Rathmore have returned to Senior football following victory over An Gaeltacht in Austin Stack Park
The sides exchanged points in the opening minutes. A John Moynihan point for Rathmore put them in the lead before he netted a lovely goal to give Rathmore a 1-2 to 0-1 lead after the opening 5 minutes.
2 further points for Rathmore brought the lead to 6 before a Brian O Beaglaoich point narrowed the gap by 1.
A Moynihan point was cancelled out by Dara O Sé, before Moynihan again stretched his sides lead to 1-6 to 0-3 after 20 minutes.
But in the closing 10 minutes of the half, the West Kerry side outscored Rathmore 2 points to 1 but trailed at the short whistle 1-7 to 0-5.
An Gaelacht emerged from the interval the stronger, scoring the opening 3 points to cut the 5 point deficit to a mere 2 within 5 minutes.
But Rathmore began to settle into the second half and at the 3 quarter mark, Rathmore were ahead by 3, 1-10 to 0-10.
Two Gaeltacht points from Dara O Sé and county man Brian O Beaglaoich cut the gap to just 1 point.
A John Moynihan point on 52 minutes brought Rathmores advantage back to 2 points.
A 29th minute point from Paul Murphy put Rathmore into a 3 point lead.
But it wasnt to be a celebratory finish for Rathmore, as An Gaeltacht scored 2 injury time points to bring it to a 1 point game after 63 minutes.
Superb fielding from Cathal Ryan meant Rathmore secured valuable possession. They won a free which was slotted over by Kerry keeper Shane Ryan.
With some time remaining, An Gaeltacht needed a goal to keep in the game but time was against them.
Rathmore win out on a final score 1-13 to 0-14 and return to the Senior Championship
Manager Denis Moynihan
Man of the Match John Moynihan
An emotional Aidan O Mahony
Rathmore and Kerry goalkeeper Shane Ryan
