Full Time: Trim 3-18 (27); Ratoath 2-21 (27)
📷 courtesy of fidgyfotos / Martin Costello

A monstrous free deep into injury time by James Murray claimed a share of the spoils for Trim in a very entertaining contest against arch rivals Ratoath, on a bright Sunday morning in St Loman’s Park. Only moments earlier it did seem that James Murray’s late goal, on the stroke of full time, had secured the victory for the home side but a Darragh Kelly goal and a Sean O’Hanrahan converted free had edged the visitors in front, before that wonderful Murray strike brought matters to a conclusion.

The first half was a very low scoring affair even though Daniel Murray had opened the Trim scoring in the second minute of play. James Murray followed with a converted free which cancelled out Ratoath’s opening score from Darragh Kelly. A fine save in the tenth minute by Trim goal minder Eoin O’Reilly, unfortunately, ended up in the back of the net when Ratoath were quicker to respond to the rebound. This score put the visitors in front for the first time and they would continue this lead until well into the final quarter.

Trim’s next score came via James Andrews but Ratoath had four on the bounce to give them a commanding advantage (1-6 to 0-3) at the end of the first quarter. Another notable fact was that Ratoath had four converted frees all coming from technical fouls in that opening half. The first of those was for a deemed throw ball against Conor Quigley and this was followed by another for ‘travelling’, a handball on the ground, and, finally, the most baffling of all, when James Toher was adjudged to have fouled the ball with his hurl, in the twenty fourth minute.

Trim, however, did regain their composure when, after a George Douglas score, in the twentieth minute, they had four additional unanswered scores themselves through a much needed James Murray solo effort followed by his two converted frees, and a Conor Quigley point. 

Half Time: Trim 0-8; Ratoath 1-8

Trim made an explosive start to the second half with a James Andrews point, after fifteen seconds, following a slick pass from Conor Quigley. Ratoath had the next two scores but Trim answered emphatically with three on the bounce from Darragh Heffernan, Alan Douglas, and a James Murray converted free.

Following a further exchange of scoring, that included a James Toher effort and a marvellous over the shoulder score, and converted free, from James Murray, Ratoath still held a slender advantage entering the final quarter. A great finish to the back of Colm O’Riordan’s net, in the Ratoath goal, by James Toher gave Trim the minimal advantage in the nineteenth minute but Gavin Mc Keown almost immediately levelled matters. Both teams then exchanged two points apiece, Trim’s scores coming from the trusty stick of James Murray, before Murray found the back of the Ratoath net to put some daylight between the sides. 

Again, Ratoath’s response was unrelenting and they levelled things with three unanswered points before a determined run by James Murray ended with the raising of another green flag for the Trim talisman. With the game drawing to a conclusion, you felt that Trim had probably done enough but there’s no place for complacency in this game and Darragh Kelly had a second goal for Ratoath before Sean O’Hanrahan had a converted free to edge the visitors in front.

When all seemed lost that huge late free from James Murray was practically the last action of a pulsating game.     

Trim: Eoin O’Reilly, Ben Holden, Gary Fleming, Darragh McLoughlin, Adam Donoghue, James Toher (1-1), Darragh Heffernan (0-1), Ian Birmingham, Conor Quigley (0-1), Ruairi McCaffrey, James Murray (2-10, 8f, ), George Douglas (0-1), Daniel Murray (0-1), Alan Douglas (0-1), James Andrews (0-2).

Subs: (used) Luca Taheny, Ben Holden, Jesse O’ Rourke