Round 6 saw us take on Rathmore on their home patch and in an overall disappointing display it was the locals who came out on top on a final scoreline of 1-13 to 0-12.

We had two changes from the starting XV with both Con Barrett and Diarmuid O’Sullivan sidelined resulting in Stephen Nix & Tom Hoare coming into the side - Shane Brosnan went to centre back in the reshuffle with Tom Hoare being a direct replacement for Diarmuid at midfield.

Rathmore played with the stiff breeze in the opening half and the sides were deadlocked after the first quarter at 0-03 each with David Moran and Darragh O’Connor converting frees and Conor Hayes having our only score from play in this period.

We were finding it difficult to gain a foothold around the middle as Rathmore dictated matters via Cathal Ryan & Darragh Rahilly but too often we coughed up hard won possession through a combination of errors and at times sloppiness. Defensively we were solid with the McElligotts, Darragh and Shane and Ben Hanafin prominent.

The decisive score arrived in the 19th minute when Rathmore wing back and former Kerry minor, Brian Friel sallied up from wing back to give Shane Foley no chance with a rasping shot to the corner of the net - Rathmore quickly followed up with a point from wing forward Darragh Nagle and though Darragh and Gearóid replied with two minors, Rathmore finished the half the stronger with two points of their own to lead by 1-07 to 0-05 at the break. We were unlucky perhaps not to get a goal of our own when David played a quick free into the arms of Conor Hayes but his shot was well smothered by the Rathmore keeper.

The second half continued in much the same vein with Rathmore keeping us at arms length and negating scores with points of their own - however we had cut the deficit to 3 points by the 18th minute with scores from Tommy (2), Shane McElligott and Barry John - 1-09 to 0-09. However, Rathmore notched 3 of the next four points, Tommy being our only scorer in the 25th minute when firing over and Rathmore did enough in the final minutes to hold onto the points.Indeed, but for an outstanding save from Shane Foley in the 20th minute, when he saved in a one on one situation, the margin would have been greater.

The final minutes saw the referee issue a straight red card to a Rathmore defender who seemed to strike out at Barry John and also a 2nd yellow for BJ who, it must be said, was the subject of much off the ball attention which went unpunished by a compliant official. Indeed, some of the officiating was at best inconsistent and at times peculiar.

Team: Shane Foley, Jake Foley, Darragh McElligott, Stephen Nix, Shane McElligott (0-01), Shane Brosnan, Ben Hanafin, David Moran ( 0-02), Tom Hoare, Seán Walsh, Barry John Keane ( 0-01), Gearóid Dillane ( 0-01), Darragh O’Connor ( 0-03), Tommy Walsh ( 0-03), Conor Hayes ( 0-01).

Subs used: Padraig Griffin & Daniel Bowler.

Our attention now turns to round 7 when we play Gneeveguilla next Friday night ( 19th) away where throw-in is @ 19.30.