The round 3 clash of the Credit Union County League Div 1 between Rathmore and Gaeltacht was played in late evening spring sunshine with a slight breeze coming off the mountains that wasn’t going to provide any meaningful influence on proceedings. Both teams lined out without any of the county players taking to the field and it was Rathmore who got off to the better start with the opening 2 points of the game from Stephen Lehane and John Moynihan before Tomás Ó Conchuir ninth minute fisted effort got Gaeltacht’s scoring under way. Rathmore increased their lead to 4 points to 1 after John Moynihan laid on a pass for Michael O’Riordan to point before himself receiving a cross field pass from Eoin Lawlor to grab his second point of the game. Gaeltacht struggled in midfield and with the limited possession were regretting some wayward shooting from their forward line. Mark Reen increased the margin to 4 after some good work down the left hand side by Donal Casey. In the fifteenth minute Daithí MacGearailt took it upon himself to drift up from his wing back position to get Gaeltacht’s second score. Lehane’s second point of the game restored Rathmore’s lead to 4 points. Paul Murphy who started at corner back for Rathmore but played a large part of the game further out the field when Gaeltacht employed the 2 man full forward line found himself in position to get Rathmore’s seventh point of the game. Minutes later, after a swift interchange with John Moynihan, he found himself in on goal, only to be denied by Gaeltacht keeper Marc Ó Mainnín. With 3 minutes to go the interval George O’Keeffe took a short 45 and a well worked move ended up with O’Keeffe getting the last score of the game to leave it Rathmore 0-08 Gaeltacht 0-02 at half time.
The second half started with an immediate substitution from Rathmore with Padraic McCarthy replacing the injured Denis Reen in goal. John Moynihan made the score line read 9 to 3 before Conall Ó Cruadhlaoích got 2 points for his side to make 9 points to 5 in favour of the home side. Daithí MacGearailt got his second of the game only for his good work to be cancelled by another point from Michael O’Riordan. In the fifteenth minute George O’Keeffe was substituted after appearing to injure his hamstring, which will no doubt concern the Rathmore faithful before the Club Championship game against Stacks in 2 weeks time. Moynihan and O’Riordan were on target again as Rathmore pulled away into a 13 point to 5 lead. The pace of the game lessened as both sides used their bench extensively with Gaeltacht substitute Tomás MacGearailt kicking 2 points along with another from Conall Ó Cruadhlaoích and Paul Reen coming on the get Rathmore’s last point of the game. Tom Lynch’s final whistle drew proceedings to a close with a comfortable win for home side with a final score of Rathmore 0-14 An Ghaeltacht 0-08.