Tuesday evening saw returns to football for Gary McGovern and Cian Doogan in this Round 6 of Division 7 encounter at Rathkenny. McGovern, after a shorter lay off, showed no signs of rustiness as he contributed 1-08 to the Kells total.
After building up what seemed like an unassailable lead in the first half, the Gaeils were left hanging on at the final whistle after a spirited Rathkenny comeback. Killian Kelly opened the scoring and McGovern added a free before Eoin Flynn got on the end of a good team move to finish to the net.
Ten minutes into the half Niall Williams intercepted a long ball out of the Rathkenny defence and set up an attack that led to McGoverns goal. Over the next ten minutes Kells extended their lead by another five points with three more coming from McGovern, and one each from Darragh Smyth and Kelly. During this time two fine saves from Conor Flanagan maintained the visitors dominance on the scoreboard.
The home side got their first point of the game with eight minutes left in the half, but there was still time for Smyth and Seanie Curran to convert two more chances either side of a brace from McGovern, to establish a lead of sixteen points at halftime.
As much as the first half was all about attacking, the second was about backs to the wall defending. Rathkenny came out with intent, and within five minutes had added 1-02 to their score. Struggling to get out of their half, Kells finally got some respite after nearly ten minutes when McGovern pointed from play.
The respite was brief and it would be another ten minutes before the same man would get their second of the half, and last of the game. In the intervening period Rathkenny added another 1-02, the goal coming from the penalty spot. The closing stages of the game included five minutes of injury time and the Gaeils defence had to work hard to limit the hosts to 1-01 to ensure a fifth win of the campaign.
Gaeil Colmcille: Conor Flanagan, Conor Arkins, Tiernan Anderson, Max Finlay, John Brady, Niall Williams, Killian Kelly (0-02), Cian Doogan, Noah Boshell, Kevin Carpenter, Seanie Curran (0-01), Eoghan Flynn (1-00), Gary McGovern (1-08), Darragh Smyth (0-02), Cormac O’Reilly.
Subs: Jamie Jordan for John Brady, Glen Gavigan for Darragh Smyth.
