The two semi finals of the Meath minor championship were played simultaneously on pitches 1 and 2 in Dunganny on Thursday night, 12 October!
They served up contrasting games! While Na Fianna and Dunboyne played out a tight affair on pitch one, Ratoath dominated the game on pitch two after a blistering start, that saw them score 3 goals in the first 5 minutes.
Seneschalstown were unfortunate to lose midfielder Robbie Wogan early on – and with a very young team they were up against it.
Connell Ahearne opened the scoring with a point, which he followed almost immediately with a goal. Excellent work in midfield by David McGowan led to goals for Tom Fadden and Andrew Gerrard, to put Ratoath 3-1 to nil up after only 5 minutes.
Seneschalstown scored their first point on 6 minutes to settle themselves and then scored a fine goal to get back into the game. However McGowan and Gerrard were dominant in midfield and Leigh Sullivan and Cian Rogers were proving great outlets for Ratoath at wing forward.
Ratoath scored points in the 10th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th minutes to pull away and added another two in the 26th and 27th minutes, the latter a cracking effort from Leigh Sullivan.
Seneschalstown responded with two points in the dying minutes of the half to leave the score at half time: 3-9 to 1-3 in Ratoath’s favour.
Ratoath started the second half brightly and more good play from McGowan and Gerard supported by Sullivan and Rogers led to points for Fadden and Rogers himself. Ahearne scored again in the 36th minute, following a fast passing move involving Simon Barry. It wasn’t until the 37th minute that the Furze men registered their first point of the second half.
Ratoath were totally dominant at this point – McGowan was winning everything in midfield and anything he wasn’t winning cleanly Padraig Byrne and Captain Ryan Kelly were cleaning up
Cormac Butler was leading the back line well and was supported very well by Meath Under 16, Luke Newe. Ben Wyer was doing well on Cathal Finnegan who was Seneschalstown’s main threat
Ahearne added 1-3 between the 41st and 52nd minute, while McGowan scored from a 45 and Rogers rounded off the scoring with a fine point in the 59th minute.
The final score: Ratoath 4-18 Senescheltown 1-6
Scorers for Ratoath:
- Ahearne 2-8
- Fadden 1-3
- Rogers 0-4
- Gerrard 1-0
- McGowan 0-2
- Sullivan 0-1
Ratoath team: Daragh McPartlin, Simon Barry, Cormac Butler, Luke Newe, Ryan Kelly, Captain, Ben Wyer, Padraig Byrne, Daithi McGowan, Andrew Gerrard, Leigh Sullivan, Connell Ahearne, Cian Rogers, Nathan Dunne, Tom Fadden, Peter Barry
Subs: John Walsh, Conor Cooley, Tiarnan Ahearne, Brendan Foster, Ruairi Crawford, Jack O’Brien.