St Loman’s cope best to book semi-final spot
Rathnew had midfielder James Stafford sent off after 49 minutes and he was followed by full-forward Jody Merrigan minutes from the end; both dismissed for red card tackles on opponents.
Rathnew cannot blame the dismissals for their defeat, with Luke Dempsey’s men playing the better, more incisive football despite the atrocious conditions.
Adam Gaffney and Paul Sherry were dominant for the winners at midfield, John Heslin was the fulcrum of attack, while Loman’s were very tight at the back.
Luke Dempsey’s men showed their intent as early as the first quarter with David Windsor rifling home a goal to open up a 1-4 to nil gap.
Sixteen minutes had elapsed before full-forward Jody Merrigan opened Rathnew’s account from a free and, following hostilities, Rathnew had their best spell coming to half time, culminating in James Stafford punching a goal at the far post to give his team some hope for the second half, trailing by 1-6 to 1-1 at the break.
Nicky Mernagh increased expectation when he cut the margin to four, five minutes after the restart, but St Loman’s soon settled back into a commanding role, midfielder Adam Gaffney adding a late second goal to copper-fasten their seven points win.
D Windsor and A Gaffney 1-0 each; K Heslin 0-4 (frees), K Reilly 0-2, K Lynam, P Sherry (45), K Casey and S Dempsey 0-1 each.
J Stafford 1-0, Jody Merrigan 0-3 frees, R O’Brien, N Mernagh, L Glynn 0-1 each.
P Dignam, P Merrigan, D Power, J Snell, W Kavanagh, R O’Brien, J Manley, A Merriman, J Stafford, E Glynn, L Glynn, T Smyth, N Mernagh, J Merrigan, S Byrne.
G Merrigan for S. Byrne, J Byrne for T Smyth.
J Daly, G Grehan, S Flynn, J O’Toole, G Glennon, P Dowdall, D Whelan, A Gaffney, P Sherry, K Lynam, J Heslin, D Windsor, K Casey, K Reilly, S Dempsey.
R O’Toole for P Dowdall, C. Reilly for D Windsor. K Kilmurray for S Dempsey.
C Reilly, Meath.
