Four-goal Rathangan clinch it over Towers in extra time

Rathangan 4-9

Round Towers 0-16

Rathangan are through to the semi final of the Auld Shebeen Athy Intermediate football championship and a meeting with the winners of the Caragh and Sallins quarter-final after they overcame favourites Round Towers by five points.

It took twenty minutes of extra time to seperate two evenly matched sides in a hugely entertaining game but four Rathangan goals proved decisive.

Towers arrived into this quarter-final unbeaten and were a lot of people's favourites to go all the way to the title. Rathangan had operated in the winners group with Leixlip and Sallins and they have used those solid performances to catapult themselves into genuine title contenders after this impressive victory.

Rathangan were two up inside as many minutes as Sam Savage and Ben Murphy wete both on target from distance.
Towers were struggling to get clean shots away against a tight Rathangan rearguard but once Jay O Brien opened their account on five minutes it propelled into a run of four in a row.

It was full forward Jason O'Brien who added all four the second of those coming from a mark after Davy O Neill played through a brilliant pass.

Towers could only add one more score over the next 14 minutes before the break. Jay O Brien added a free on 31 but before that late effort Rathangan had taken control.

Ross Teehan converted a free on 18 before the game's opening goal arrived. A long Ben Murphy ball into the corner was won by Sam Savage and in a flash he had turned Mikey Kelly and he was through on goal. He took one look before firing low past Colin English. Aran Teehan and Ben Murphy added late points to leave Rathangan 1-5 to 0-6 after 30 minutes.

The second half saw Towers move back in front with three early points. Colin English from a free and two from Jay O'Brien meant that normality had been resumed for the Kildare Town side.

Rathangan are a formidable force and the arrival of a second goal on 48 minute came as Sean Behan fired home after Sam Savage played him in.

Towers responded as you would have expected and Sean Glennon and another Jay O'Brien effort meant we were level as we entered the closing five minutes.

Jay O Brien had a glorious chance to put Towers one up but his effort lacked conviction and a quick clearance from Craig Shannon saw Rathangan attack with purpose.

A foul on Rian Teehan saw brother Ross convert the free that looked to have sealed the unlikely win.

As injury time approached Ben Ryan backed himself to shoot from 35 metres and as his effort scrambled over we finished at 0-13 for Towers to 2-7 to Rathangan. Extra Time was on the way.

The first period of added time didn't look like it would seperate the sides. Towers had added two early points through substitute Neil Scanlon, another Jay O'Brien free but Rathangan kept finding a way to get their noses in front. A third goal arrived on 64. A long Ross Teehan free was fumbled by the Towers backs and Sean Behan was on hand to tap home the rebound for his second goal.

Stephen Comerford kicked over a beauty but Muiris Curtin had time for a late free and with 10 minutes to play Rathangan were 3-8 to 0-16 ahead.

The closing ten minutes saw Rathangan move four ahead and it was their fourth goal from Ben Murphy that sealed a place in the semi final. Towers failed to score in that second period and when Billy Connell sounded the full time whistle it was the Rathangan contingent who were celebrating the 4-9 to 0-16 win.

RATHANGAN: Craig Shannon; Oisin O'Loughlin, Mark Fitzsimons, Shane O Loughlin; Eoin Curtin, Michael Fitzsimons, David Vaaughan; Rian Teehan, Ben Murphy 1-2; Conor Jamieson, Sam Savage 1-2 (1 free), Ross Teehan 0-2 (2 frees); Muiris Curtin 0-1 (1 free); David Murphy, Aran Teehan 0-2. Subs: Daniel Mulpeter for Oisin O Loughlin 42; Sean Behan 2-0 for Conor Jamieson 42; Brandon Maloney for Aran Teehan 65; Aaron Mullins for David Murphy 58; Alex Conlan for Eoin Curtin 72.

ROUND TOWERS: Colin English 0-1 (1 free); Jack O'Neill, Michael Joyce, Mikey Kelly; Sean Glennon 0-1, David O'Neill, Michael Murphy; Jamie Flynn, Evan Flynn 0-1; Jay O'Brien 0-6 (2 free), Mark Waters, Mark Byrne; Max Cosgrave, Jason O'Brien 0-4 (1 mark), Max Byrne. Subs: Ben Ryan 0-1 for Max Byrne 35; Neil Scanlon 0-1 for Jason O'Brien 47; Stephen Comerford 0-1 for Max Cosgrave 51; Padraig Daly for Michael Murphy 56; Cathal Daffy for Sean Glennon 59; Michael Murphy for Jamie Flynn 70; Sean Glennon for Mark Byrne 74.

REFEREE: Billy Connell.