Skryne stun Ratoath in Group D opener

Skryne came out on top over last years finalists Ratoath by two points

Skryne 1-11

Ratoath 0-12

Bookies favourites for the championship Ratoath were stunned by Skryne in round one of the Meath SFC in Donaghmore Ashbourne on Sunday afternoon.  Skryne were by far the better side throughout and fully deserved the two-point win.

Mick O’Dowd has made a huge impact on this Skryne outfit and his side has improved in leaps and bounds since the former Meath manager took the reigns. 12 months ago, when these two sides last met in championship action, Ratoath came out on top by 23 points.

Sunday afternoon saw a much improved, much better managed, Skryne side defeat a Ratoath side that looked void of ideas, lacking in leadership, and were not in any way reflective of the Ratoath side that we have come to expect over the last number of years.

Skryne got off to a flying start with points from Shane Smyth, Conor O’Brien and a free from Neil Burke which gave the men in blue an early three-point lead. Cian O’Brien eventually got Ratoath off the mark in the seventh minute.

Burke added two more points to Skyne’s tally on either side of a Cian Rogers score. Dathi McGowan’s successful 45 kept Ratoath in touch before Darragh Campion rattled off two points in succession to send Skyrne in at the break with a four-point advantage.

Ratoath had a five-minute spell at the start of the second quarter where they had started to look a bit dangerous, but in general, Skryne were playing much better football for the majority of that first half.

The opposing centre forwards, Glenn O’Reilly and Neil Burke traded scores early in the second half. Ratoath had made some silly errors throughout the contest but the standout mistake came when the Ratoath net-minder, Cian O’Farrell took too long taking a kick out and the ref blew for a hop ball. From that Harry Rooney was able to win the hop ball and slot it over the bar to give Skryne a five-point lead.

Credit to O’Farrell though, he made amends a minute later when pulling off a brilliant save to deny Neil Burke a goal opportunity. Ratoath started to make inroads at the start of the final quarter and they secured five points without response. Cian Rogers and Conor Rooney both added two points to Ratoaths tally and half-time substitute Joey Wallace also added his name to the scoresheet.

Skryne had gone 20 minutes without a score but eventually, Darragh Campion settled the ship and edged Skryne one point ahead once more. The defining moment came a moment later when Campion got on the end of a well-worked Skryne move to finish to the back of the Ratoath net

Skryne now held a four-point lead heading into injury time and despite the best efforts of Glenn O’Reilly, who secured two late points, Skryne held on for a famous win.

Sunday’s contest completely changed the complexion of group D as many would have assumed that Ratoath would cruise to the top spot and that Skryne would be battling for second with Trim and Rathkenny. Skryne are now in pole position to top the group after this massive victory.

Skryne – Ian Gillett; Stephen O’Brien, Ciaran Lenehan, Jack Swan; Shane Smyth (0-1), John O’Regan, Michael Doherty; James Finnerty, Harry Rooney (0-1); Darragh Campion (1-3, one 45’, one free), Neil Burke (0-4, three frees), John Finnerty; Conor O’Brien (0-1), Padraig Finnerty, Conor Donohoe. Subs – Patrick Fox for Donohoe 42m, Billy Smith (0-1) for P Finnerty 45m, Oisin Keogh for C O’Brien 47m, Niall Finnerty for Burke 54m, Daniel Fitzpatrick for John Finnerty 56m.

Ratoath – Cian O’Farrell; Eoin Drysdale, Ciaran O’Fearaigh, Sean Brazil; Liam Kelly, Gavin McGowan, Jack Gillespie; Ben McGowan, Daithi McGowan; Jack McGowan, Glen O’Reilly (0-3, two frees, one 45), Cian O’Brien (0-1); Keith McCabe, Conor Rooney (0-2), Cian Rogers (0-3). Subs -  Joey Wallace (0-1) for J McGowan, Padraig Byrne for D McGowan both HT, Ben Wyer for Gillespie 40m, Bryan McMahon (0-1) for O’Fearaigh 45m, Darragh Kelly for B McGowan. 

Referee - Robbie Barrett