Clinical Arles-Killeen spoil Park-Ratheniska's Laois SFC return

Paddy Christie enjoyed a winning start to life as Arles-Killeen manager as his side overcame Park-Ratheniska in their opening Laois Shopping Centre Senior Football Championship clash at Laois Hire O'Moore Park on Saturday evening.

The newly-promoted Park-Ratheniska were the better side for much of the opening half and dominated possession, but they failed to make that superiority count on the scoreboard. While they spent long periods camped inside the Arles-Killeen half, they struggled to break down a disciplined defence, resulting in a stop-start opening 30 minutes.

Arles-Killeen made the perfect start when Ennae Byrne split the posts inside 20 seconds. However, Park-Ratheniska responded well as Cian Nolan and Noah Fingleton both found the target to edge their side in front after four minutes.

A slick passing move involving Oisin Byrne, Paul Kingston and Colin Dunne allowed Donie Kingston to restore parity with Arles-Killeen's second score before Park-Ratheniska struck for the opening goal in the seventh minute.

A neat one-two between Noah Fingleton and Nolan carved open the defence, with Fingleton finishing confidently beneath Jason Enright to give the Intermediate champions a deserved advantage.

Remarkably, that proved to be Park-Ratheniska's final score of the half. Despite enjoying the lion's share of possession, they were repeatedly frustrated by Arles-Killeen's defensive resilience and were punished whenever their opponents broke at pace.

Colin Dunne sparked the turnaround with two superb points from limited opportunities, while corner-back Enda O'Rourke produced two outstanding goal-line interventions. He first denied Simon Fingleton after a dangerous attack before reacting brilliantly to clear Cian Nolan's effort off the line after it had beaten Enright.

Dunne then combined neatly in a one-two before firing over to level matters, and moments later he added another excellent outside-of-the-boot effort to edge Arles-Killeen in front.

The decisive blow of the half arrived when Ennae Byrne surged down the sideline before squaring for Donie Kingston, who had the simple task of palming to the net from close range. Byrne rounded off an impressive first-half display by adding another point, leaving Arles-Killeen 1-7 to 1-2 clear at the interval.

Dunne extended the lead after the restart before Park-Ratheniska finally ended a 27-minute scoring drought when Richie Hitchcock created the opening for Nolan to fire home their second goal.

Paul Kingston replied with a free before O'Rourke came to Arles-Killeen's rescue again, producing another fine block to deny Tom Fingleton. Conor Headen added a straightforward free after Andrew Wall was penalised for tackling Simon Fingleton within four metres during a solo-and-go.

The Kingston brothers combined brilliantly midway through the half, Donie supplying Paul for a well-taken point that restored a four-point cushion. Park-Ratheniska refused to go away and scores from Simon Fingleton, Nolan and Matt Cunningham reduced the gap to a single point entering the closing stages.

However, fortune smiled on Arles-Killeen for the game's defining score. Goalkeeper Cathal Tierney's kick-out landed straight to Paul Kingston, whose audacious effort looped back over the retreating keeper. The ball struck the crossbar before rebounding off Tierney and into the net.

Simon Fingleton narrowed the deficit once more, but Arles-Killeen finished strongly with an Ennae Byrne point and a Paul Kingston free to seal a five-point victory.

FINAL SCORE

Arles-Killeen 2-12

Park-Ratheniska 2-7

SCORERS- Arles-Killeen: Donie Kingston 1-3, Paul Kingston (0-2 frees), Ennae Byrne and Colin Dunne 0-3 each, Cathal Tierney 1-0 (own goal). Park-Ratheniska: Cian Nolan 1-2, Noah Fingleton 1-1, Simon Fingleton 0-2, Conor Headen (free) and Matt Cunningham 0-1 each.

ARLES-KILLEEN: Jason Enright; Andrew Wall, Joe Mulhare, Enda O’Rourke; Mick Wall, Dermot Julian, Ben Griffin; Oisin Byrne, Ennae Byrne; Conor Keightley, Paul Kingston, Sean O’Shea; Niall O’Rourke, Donie Kingston, Colin Dunne. Subs: Ger McWey for Julian (60 mins)

PARK-RATHENISKA: Cathal Tierney; Colm Brennan, Richie Hitchcock, Benny Greene; James Newell, Aaron Fitzpatrick, Killian O’Connor; Podge Dunne, Simon Fingleton; Noah Fingleton, Cian Nolan, Tom Fingleton; Paul Byrne, Conor Headen, Matt Cunningham.

Referee: Clifford Ward (Portarlington)