Athy cling on for narrow win

Athy 0- 13 Clogherinkoe 0-11 

Athy were left hanging on at the end as Clogherinkoe nearly caused an upset and they will rightly feel they should have got something from the game. Two wonderful saves from James Rycroft from Cein McMonagle and Aedan Boyle on 54 minutes proved to be the main difference in the end.

Both sides served up a decent opening half with Niall Kelly adding five points in response to three from Clogherinkoe's Cein McMonagle.In an open encounter the sides matched each other in every facet and it took three Kelly points in the closing four minutes to leave Athy 0-10 to 0-7 ahead at the break.

Athy, who hit 1-24 against Maynooth the last day,were short of the scoring boots in the second half.A total of 8 wides didn't help the cause as they could only ad three points after the break.Ten minutes had elapsed before Kelly and McMonagle swapped points to keep the gap at three.We went 11 minutes without a score but when Mark Nolans shot came back off the post Rycroft denied Clogherinkoe the equaliser.

James Eaton converted a 40 metre free but despite late points from Boyle and two from Mark Nolan the clock ran out and Athy held on for the two point win at 0-13 to 0-11.

ATHY: James Roycroft, Padraig Spillane, Cathal McCarron, Darren Lawler, Michael Spillane, James McGrath, Brian Maher 0-1,Ryan Bowden, Kevin Feely 0-1 (1 free), Barry Kelly,Kieran Farrell 0-1, Paschal Connell, Niall Kelly 0-7 (2 frees), Ben Purcell 0-1, John Moran 0-1. SUBS: Liam McGovern for Farrell, 35; Cathal Kennedy for Moran, 35; Colm Moran for Purcell, 47; James Eaton 0-1f for Bowden, 47; Sean Moore for Connell, 52.

CLOGHERINKOE: Keith Wilkinson, Ben Kenny,Eoghan McMonagle, John Mulraney,Andrrw Hill,Gavin Scanlon, Rory Phelan, Mark Grehan 0-1,Killian Galligan, Daniel Grehan, Mark Nolan 0-3 (1 free,1 mark),Aedan Boyle 0-1, Jimmy Lynch 0-2,Cein McMonagle 0-4 (2 free), Ciaran Flynn. SUBS Conor Swan for Flynn, 48; Niall Walsh for Phelan, 59; Conor Swan for Lynch, 59.

REFEREE: Brendan Cawley