Park Ratheniska bridge 33 year gap and return to top table of Laois football

LAOIS SHOPPING CENTRE INTERMEDIATE FOOTBALL FINAL

PARK-RATHENISKA 1-15

MOUNTMELLICK 0-12

Park-Ratheniska are the 2021 Laois IFC champions after a well-deserved six point win over Mountmellick in O’Moore Park on Friday night.

Having won the delayed JFC ‘A’ just a few months ago, it caps a whirlwind few months for the men in green and gold as they will now play senior football in 2022. They were worthy winners here too as their brand of quick, direct football left Mountmellick chasing shadows on the floodlit O’Moore Park pitch.

The opening quarter didn’t offer much in the way of goalmouth action, as both teams struggled to adapt to the greasy conditions. Park-Ratheniska saw a couple of chances drift wide from Kieran Delaney (free) and Sean Tynan, while Mountmellick’s best effort was a right-footed shot from Colm Coss that dropped short.

There was probably a bit more of an onus on Park to get up and running as they had the wind advantage, and they finally opened the scoring in the 12th minute when James Connolly curled over a free.

That would be the only score before the opening water break, the only other action of note being a black card for Park-Ratheniska’s Simon Fingleton, as the men in green and gold held a 0-1 to 0-0 lead.

Mountmellick drew level in the 19th minute, Niall Mullen curling over a free into the breeze, but that seemed to light a fire under the Park-Ratheniska men.

Before the 19th minute had fully elapsed, they were back in front thanks to Kieran Delaney, with James Connolly adding a free moments later after he was fouled by Richie McElwee.

With their supporters in full voice, they were given further reason to cheer in the 22nd minute when Padraig Dunne was sent clear on goal and his low finish nestled in the back of the net.

Mountmellick needed to stem the tide now and to their credit they duly did, as Niall Mullen popped over his second free and then Colm Coss scored a wonderful point from way out on the left wing.

That left a goal in it, but Park-Ratheniska hit back with interest as Kieran Delaney (2) and Mark G Delany pointed to make it a six-point game, something which seemed unlikely after the lack of scores in the opening 20 minutes.

Mountmellick managed to get one back before the break thanks to another Mullen free, but it was advantage Park-Ratheniska at the interval as they lead 1-6 to 0-4.

The second half began a little gingerly also although, thankfully, not as bad as in the first half. We still had to wait eight minutes for a score, a clever James Connolly pass setting up Sean Tynan for a point. John Noonan replied within seconds for Mountmellick and Niall Mullen added one from play as the pace of the game started to pick up.

Mountmellick had wind advantage now but Park-Ratheniska were working the ball well into the elements, picking off scores whenever they needed them. A couple of times Mountmellick managed to kick two points in a row to build a bit of momentum, but each time Park-Ratheniska swatted them away.

By the second water break there was still five in it and Mountmellick were going to need an almighty improvement from themselves, and collapse from Park-Ratheniska, to end their stay in the IFC.

Neither seemed likely and neither happened, as Padraig Dunne, brian dunne and Kieran Delaney all tacked on scores for Park-Ratheniska, while at the other end their water-tight defence never looked like giving up a goal.

Mountmellick battled on, but there was only one team in the going to win this one and Park-Ratheniska duly held on for a well-deserved victory.

MOUNTMELLICK

 Scorers: Niall Mullen 0-7 (0-5 frees), Colm Coss 0-3, John Noonan, Eoin George 0-1 each.

Team: Eoghan Keogh; Kai Byrne, Gearoid Hanrahan, Richie McElwee; Redmond McEvoy, Darren Fitzpatrick, Eoin George; Colm Coss, Steve Lynch; Niall Mullen, Tadhg Culliton, Mark Dowling; Finn Culleton, John Noonan, John Connolly. Subs: Ger Reddin for Lynch (42 mins), Karl Donoher for Connolly (48 mins), Cian Thompson for McEvoy (56 mins), Darragh Hanlon for Culleton (60 mins)

PARK-RATHENISKA

 Scorers: Kieran Delaney 0-4 (0-1 free), James Connolly 0-4 (0-3 frees), Padraig Dunne 1-1, Mark G Delaney, Brian Dunne 0-2 each, Sean Tynan, DJ O’Connell 0-1 each.

Team: Jamie Downey; Josh Mulhall, Mark Delaney, Benny Greene; Richie Hitchcock, Colm Brennan, Jimmy Langton; Padraig Dunne, Simon Fingleton; Bryan Flanagan, Kieran Delaney, Mark G Delany; James Connolly, Sean Tynan, Brian Dunne. Subs: Marc Ramsbottom for Flanagan (46 mins), Sean Tierney for Delany (51 mins, inj), Stephen Knowles for Tynan (54 mins), David McEvoy for Langton (61 mins), DJ O’Connell for Connolly (63 mins),
 

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