Wicklow SFC Final Replay

Blessington 0-11 Rathnew 1-6

By Kevin Stapleton at Echelon Park, Aughrum

Blessington captured the Wicklow Senior Football Championship in Echelon Park in Aughrim on Sunday with a two point victory over Rathnew. 

Rathnew opened the scoring with 43 seconds on the clock through an Eddie Doyle free and followed it up with a long range effort from full back Jamie Snell. Blessington levelled matters through Kevin Quinn and a Mikey O’Connor free.

The opening half was a cagey affair with both defences coming out on top, but a bit of a spark was ignited in the game when a long ball into the Rathnew full forward line was claimed by James Stafford and he passed to Gary Byrne, who rifled an arrow into the corner of the net.

Blessington responded with scores from Kevin Quinn and Kevin Hanlon, but Theo Smyth finished the scoring in the opening period with a fine effort to leave Rathnew 1-3 to 0-4 ahead at the interval.

Four unanswered points in a row in the opening 10 minutes pushed Blessington in front. Jordan McGarr, Mikey O’Connor, a long range mark from Kevin Quinn and a Dan Cooney point all making the most of some open football from Blessington.

Eddie Doyle levelled matters with two frees coming up to the 42nd minute, but they went 22 minutes before adding to the tally. With the game in the melting pot, Blessington dealt with some long range deliveries.

Blessington put themselves back in front through a Paul McLoughlin interception and score, a Mikey O’Connor free and an exceptional effort from Craig Maguire that pushed Blessington into a three point lead deep into injury time. Rathnew could only respond through a Eddie Doyle free, but Blessington held out. 

Scorers for Blessington: Kevin Quinn 0-3 (1m), Mikey O’Connor 0-3 (2fs), Kevin Hanlon, Jordan McGarr, Craig Maguire, Dan Cooney and Paul McLoughlon 0-1 each.

Scorers for Rathnew: Eddie Doyle 0-4 (4fs), Gary Byrne 1-0, Jamie Snell and Theo Smyth 0-1 each.

Blessington: Rob Gilligan; Steven Bohan, Conall O’Gallchobhair, Aaron Curran; Kevin Hanlon, Jack Gilligan, Paul McLoughlin; Craig Maguire, Dan Cooney; Eoin Keogh, Curtis Geraghty, Jordan McGarr, Dan Silke Fetherson, Kevin Quinn, Mikey O’Connor.

Subs: Martin Shannon for Curtis Geraghty, Jack Cotter for Kevin Hanlon, Stephen Carroll for Jordan McGarr.

Rathnew: Ronan Doyle; Conor Lenehan, Jamie Snell, Gary Byrne; Fionn O’Sullivan, Toby Curran, Adam Byrne; Sean Coffey, Theo Smyth; Sam Healy, Sam O’Dowd, Callum Clarke; Eoin Doyle, James Stafford, Eddie Doyle.

Subs: Ciaran Coffey for Sean Coffey, William Moorehouse for Fionn O’Sullivan, Jonah Graham for Callum Clarke, Jody Merrigan for Ciaran Coffey, Mark Doyle for Eoin Doyle.

Referee: Stephen Fagan (Baltinglass).