Rathangan edge Newtown Gaels in thrilling Kildare Divison 3 league final
Minor Football League Division 3 Final
Rathangan 3-16
Newtown Gaels 1-12
A late Ben Murphy point settled matters in a trilling seven goal encounter between Rathangan and Newtown Gales.
DJ Percival opened the scoring inside the first minute with a point before Newtown Gales added to their early start with a Fergal McKennedy goal after Percival found James Keely who spotted McKennedy unmarked and squaring the ball allowed the wing forward to net.
Rathangan hit back through Brandon Evans and a Sam Savage brace to leave one between the sides before Newtown Gales'
Aidan Ralph gathered possession turned sending the ball low under Phelim Doyle; Josh Gannon tagged on a point to leave five between the sides on the quarter hour mark.
Points from McKennedy and Ben Keogh left Newtown Gales with a healthy seven point advantage.
Rathangan hit back with four points in three minutes from Savange, Conor Ahern (2) and Mark Fitzsimons but Newtown Gales again raised a third green flag but was ruled out for an square infringement.
Refusing to be denied, within seconds of this decision Conor Sullivan rose the green flag for a third time; Savage quickly netted Rathangan’s first of the afternoon cancelling the effect of Sullivan’s moments earlier. A 45 from Savage left two between the sides before Rathangan went in sight to turn the lead for the first time since Newtown Gales pointed in the opening minute.
A Mark Fitzsimons goal two minutes before the break gave Rathangan a one point advantage before Ronan Doorey leveled again soon after. An exchange of points from Percival and Eoin Curtin left the sides level at the break.
A point from Percival after the restart had Newtown Gales into the lead before McKennedy added his second goal of the day. A Sam Savage free looked to quieten the Newtown Gales attack but with Percival fisting over with 20 minutes remaining this wasn’t to be.
Within minutes Rathangan had the best opportunity to slice the Newtown Gales lead to one with Brandon Evans being hauled down by Sullivan but the penalty failed to find the net. Fitzsimons added a point from Josh McCarthy’s kick out to leave three separating the sides.
Full forward Savage was quickly on hand to make up for his penalty mistake and netted to level matters after gathering a long ball in from Fitzsimons. Curtin and McKennedy traded points to maintain the deadlock before Ralph and Fitzsimons done the same.
A further series of traded points levelled matters twice more as the tie approached the fourth minute of injury time. A late point from Ben Murphy ensured to settle matters as Rathangan claimed a late victory with the final kick of the tie.
RATHANGAN: Phelim Doyle; Niall Ahern, Dylan Nevin, Guy O’Dowd; Paddy Moore, Michael Hackett, Bobby O’Loughlin; Ruari Byrne, Mark Fitzsimons 1-4; Luke Elliott, Eoin Curtin 0-2, Ben Murphy 0-1; Brandon Evans 0-1, Sam Savage 2-6 (3f, 1 45’), Conor Ahern 0-2. Subs: Eoghan McMullen for O’Loughlin, 36; Oisin Conroy for Elliott, 53.
NEWTOWN GAELS: Josh McCarthy; Conor Walsh, Aaron Manders, Jude Harmen; Billy Byrne, Conor Sullivan 1-0, Cian Burke; Alex Keogh, James Keely; Josh Gannon 0-1, Ronan Doorey 0-1, Fergal McKennedy 2-2; Aidan Ralph 1-1, DJ Percival 0-5 (1f); Ben Keogh 0-1. Subs: Liam Deane for Sullivan, 30; Cillian Cassidy for Burke, 38; Conor Kealy 0-1 for Deane, 55.
REFEREE: Stephen Foley.