Rathvilly 2-10 Palatine 0-11
A goal in each half from player of the match Kevin Murphy gave Rathvilly their tenth Carlow SFC title, when defeating Palatine by five points in Saturday's final replay at Netwatch Cullen Park.
The first half of this replay was close. Both sides know each other well and in the early stages they shared six points each. Murphy led the Rathvilly effort with two points from frees while Palatine's Shane O’Neill was playing a roving game but still scored three points in the half.
The main talking point came at the end of the first quarter as Palatine lost possession and Murphy was on hand to hammer the ball home for a great goal.
Palatine, who had played a more patient game up to this, opened up and points from Craig Kearney (free), O’Neill and Conor Crowley had the sides level at 1-04 to 0-07 at the interval.
While a Jamie Kenny point gave Palatine the lead early in the second half, they soon found themselves on the back-foot as Murphy added two points to his ever-increasing total. Bryan McMahon levelled once more for Palatine and Brandon Cassidy eased them ahead in a spell that was going to be their best period of the second half.
When Rathvilly turned over the ball in defence, Conor Doyle latched onto it and surged forward. He could have gone himself but he spotted Murphy on the move out on his left. The pass was perfect and the finish complimented the off-load.
There was only going to be one winner from there. Ed Finnegan got among the Rathvilly scorers and while McMahon brought his match total to three points for Palatine Murphy finished the game raising two white flags on the trot to cement his side’s first senior football championship victory since 2022.
Rathvilly: Robbie Molloy; Colin Byrne, Dara Curran, Paraic Deering; Padhraig Bolger, Josh Moore, Eric Molloy (0-01); Brendan Murphy (0-01), Barry John Molloy; Brandon Kelly, Conor Doyle (0-01), Ed Finnegan (0-01); Brian Smith, Kevin Murphy (2-06, 3fs), Liam Gavin.
Subs: Darragh Murphy for Bolger (h/t), Adam Burgess for Smith (39), Jake Eliott for Gavin (50), Robbie Ryan for Deering (53), Ryan Sibbald for Finnegan (57).
Palatine: Craig Kearney (0-02, 1f, '45); Conor O’Doherty, Cian Cashman, Jack Deacy; Stephen Reilly, Ciaran Moran, Cillian Duff; Finbarr Kavanagh, Jason Kane; Josh Egan, Shane O’Neill (0-03, 2fs), Bryan McMahon (0-03, 1f); Jamie Kenny (0-01), Conor Crowley (0-01), Brandon Cassidy.
Subs: Gavin Healy for Duff (h/t), Andrew Kehoe for Cassidy (39), Conor Lawlor for Kane (44), Tomas Sheehan for O’Neill (53), James Cranny for O’Doherty (57).
Referee: James Foley (Kilbride).
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