WICKLOW SFC Rathnew 0-8 St Patrick's 0-7:IRELAND squad member Leighton Glynn joins his team-mates in Australia today happy in the knowledge that he has helped his club team to another county final in Wicklow at the weekend.

Glynn is a key player for Rathnew and played his part in ensuring the defending champions survived the tense closing stages of a cracking semi-final replay against parish neighbours St Patrick’s at Aughrim on Saturday.

A tight contest went all the way to extra-time before Rathnew booked a final meeting with St Mary’s which has been put back to mid-November until Glynn returns from Australia.

As in the drawn game, St Patrick’s again got off to a flier to take a 0-4 lead in the first quarter, three of the points scored by former Mayo county player Austin O’Malley.

It took Rathnew 21 minutes to register a score, a point by midfielder Stephen Kavanagh.

They trailed by 0-2 to 0-4 at half time, but then tied the scores 0-5 apiece in the second half in which St Patrick’s were restricted to a single point by corner-forward Donie Fitzgerald.

Indeed the Wicklow town team were restricted to a single point for almost 50 minutes as Rathnew forged 0-8 to 0-5 in front.

St Patrick’s sprang Patrick McWalter from the bench in extra-time.

McWalter was playing his first football in nearly two years following his leg injury in the suffered plating for Wicklow in the Leinster championship against Westmeath.

In the dying minutes Austin O’Malley (free) and Darragh O’Sullivan banged over two points but Rathnew held out for a narrow one-point win.

SCORERS: RATHNEW: L Glynn (0-2), S Kavanagh (0-1), N Mernagh (0-1), M Doyle (0-1), T Gill (0-2), E Glynn (0-1). ST PATRICK'S: A O'Malley (0-4), T Kelly (0-1), D Fitzgerald (0-1), D O'Sullivan (0-1).