O'Rourke and Skehan power O'Mahonys to final victory

Leading most of the way Navan O'Mahonys secured a 2-15 to 2-7 victory over Ratoath in the Div 2 HC final at Ratoath today.

The destination of the Aidan Foran Cup was well flagged long before the end of the Div 2 HC final as O'Mahonys built on a 1-9 to 1-5 interval lead to secure a comfortable win in the first of the two games staged on Ratoath's well-maintained pitch. 

The O'Mahonys victory was partly built on the peformances of two of their most experienced forward Colin O'Rourke and Paddy Skehan. 

O'Rourke was in excellent form clocking up 2-4 with one of his goals scored in the opening half the other arriving late in proceedings and putting the issue beyond any doubt. 

Skehan was also in fine form and he ended up with a personal tally of nine points, seven from frees. 

Gavin Fox and Andrew Kenny were the other O'Mahonys players to fire over. Rataoth's Paul McDonnell helped himself to two goals but his team were always struggling to find a foothold in the game.

Navan O'Mahonys - Marcus McDonagh; Damien Cleere, Declan Tolster, Donal Hogan; Andrew Kenny (0-1), Ben McEntaggart, Nigel Ryan; Jake Regan, Michael O'Reilly; Rory Maguire, Kevin O'Rourke, Peter O'Loughlin; Gavin Fox (0-1), Paddy Skehan (0-9 seven frees), Colin O'Rourke (2-4). Subs - Kenneth Boyd for Fox, Johnny Brennan for O'Loughlin both 54 mins, Shane O'Brien for Skehan, Martin Sherlock for O'Rourke 59m, Ciaran Casey for Ryan 61m.

Ratoath - Gavin Hattie; James Duffy, Paddy Cummins, Donal McClarnon; James O'Brien, Paul Kirwan, Keith O'Brien; Alex Coakley, Ger Clarke; Conleth McClarnon (0-4 frees), Colm O'Riordan (0-1), Paul McDonnell (2-0); Phil Lanigan, Roger Casey (0-1), Mark Phelan (0-1). Subs - Sean Ryan for Cummins, Aaron McDonnell for Phelan 36m, Niall Murphy for K O'Brien 41m, Patrick Briody for Lanigan 51m.  

Referee - Gerard Smith (Boardsmill).