Campion rescues point for Skryne with late strike

Skryne 0-8

Rathkenny 0-8

DARRAGH CAMPION salvaged a share of the spoils for Skryne with a point from a ’45 eight minutes into added time of this Group D SFC encounter at Simonstown, writes Sean Wall.

In what could only be described as a helter-skelter finish the Tara men dominated the closing stages but squandered a number of gilt-edged chances before the county man made amends for earlier misses by landing that last gasp equaliser.

At that stage Skryne were down to 13 men after both Patrick Fox and John Finnerty were black carded in the closing stages while Rathkenny had earlier been reduced to 14 after James Macken was shown a straight red card after referee David Gough consulted with his umpires on 54 minutes.

Rathkenny were less than happy that Gough allowed eight minutes of added time and the Slane official had to endure the wrath of Rathkenny supporters at the final whistle.

Overall a draw was probably a fair outcome though Rathkenny, who were beaten by a point in added time against Trim, looked to be on course for a shock win after opening up a 0-7 to 0-4 lead by the 51st minute.

They still led by two after Keith Curtis (free) hit his sixth point on 57 minutes. Campion from a free reduced it to the minimum on the hour mark and Skryne hopes seemed to have ended after Campion and Conor Donohoe both hit efforts wide of the target. However when an Oisin Keogh shot was knocked out for a ’45 Campion finally came up trumps right at the death.

The game as a whole was a poor spectacle with only four of the 16 scores coming from open play. It was that tight and Skryne who were impressive winners over Ratoath knew that they had a battle on their hands from early on.

Rathkenny were ahead 0-3 to 0-2 at half-time courtesy of two points from Keith Curtis and another from his cousin David. Neil Burke and Campion, both frees, accounted for Skryne’s tally in the half, and they had midfielder Harry Rooney black carded after just two minutes.

John Finnerty hit the opening score from play within a minute of the restart and Skryne led for the only time after Burke converted another free on 33 minutes.

Rathkenny enjoyed a dominant spell after that during which Keith Curtis hit three points in a four minute spell, two from play and a mark, to regain the lead, 0-6 to 0-4. Noah Jenkinson stretched that advantage from another mark.

Skryne looked in serious bother at that stage forcing manager Mick O’Dowd to ring the changes. John Finnerty’s second point from play edged them closer and sub Niall Finnerty converted a free to leave it 0-7 to 0-6.

With scores at a premium it looked as if that final point from Keith Curtis would be enough to see Rathkenny over the line. However with Rooney dominant at midfield Skryne produced a storming finish and were finally rewarded to remain firmly on course for a place in the knockout stages.

Skryne – Ian Gillett; Stephen O’Brien, Ciaran Lenehan, Jack Swan; Shane Smyth, Michael Doherty, John O’Regan; James Finnerty, Harry Rooney; Padraig Finnerty, Neil Burke (0-2 two frees), John Finnerty (0-2); Billy Smyth, Darragh Campion (0-3 two frees, one ‘45), Conor Donohoe. Subs – Patrick Fox for James Finnerty 23m, Niall Finnerty (0-1 free) for Burke 37m, James Reeves for Lenehan 39m, Oisin Keogh for Smyth 46m, Daniel Fitzpatrick for O’Brien 58m.

Rathkenny – Charlie Cullen; Sean O’Hare, Adam Byrne, Ciaran O’Hare; James O’Hare, Ross Gore, Padraig McKeever; James Macken, Donal Keogan; Niall Brannigan, Max McKenna, Christy Meade; David Curtis (0-1 free), Keith Curtis (0-6 two frees, two marks), Noah Jenkinson (0-1 one mark). Subs – Mark Byrne for Gore 26m, Joey Curtis for Brannigan 44m, Brian Meade for McKenna 57m, Corbin Jenkinson for Keogan 64m.

Referee – David Gough (Slane)