Whearty strikes late to rescue draw for St Pat's

We didn’t have to wait long for the first shock of the SFC as St Patrick's struck a 69th minute equaliser to earn a 4-9 to 3-12 draw with Ratoath in Ashbourne tonight.

At the end of a free flowing opening period which saw Keith McCabe net twice, once from the penalty spot, and Joey Wallace also bag a goal for Ratoath, and Kieran Lynch and Neil O'Flaherty reply in kind for St Pat's it was Ratoath who led 3-9 to 2-4 at the break and who looked comfortable.

An Alan Vickers goal 30 seconds after the restart gave St Patrick's hope and with the scoring rate slowing Ratoath laboured when in front.

A Shane Dowling goal closed the gap to 4-6 to 3-11 in the 60th minute, but Ratoath thought they had done enough when Conor Rooney replied with a point.

However, in the subsequent nine minutes of injury time Niall Mooney pointed two frees before Niall Whearty struck the equaliser from a placed ball in the 69th minute to rescue a draw from the jaws of defeat for St Patrick's.

Scorers: Ratoath – Keith McCabe 2-1 1-0 penalty; Bryan McMahon 0-4 one free; Joey Wallace 1-0; Conor Rooney 0-3; Darragh Kelly, Ciaran O Ferraigh, Gavin McGowan, Brian Power 0-1 each; St Patrick's – Niall Mooney 0-5 four frees; Alan Vickers 1-1; Shane Dowling, Kieran Lynch, Neil O'Flaherty 1-0 each; Diarmuid Quinn, Padraig Nulty, Niall Whearty (free) 0-1 each.