The Roscommon Senior Football Team’s season, which promised so much following a great start to the Allianz League came to a disappointing end today with defeat to Clare.
Roscommon, who ended the game with 13 men, seemed physically and mentally tired throughout and couldn’t match the pace and energy of the Banner men.
Playing with the wind in the first half they led by 0-2 to 0-0 after three minutes through Ciarain Murtagh and Enda Smith. However Clare replied with 1-1 in the space of two minutes, the point coming from midfielder Gary Brennan, who was their main driving force in the opening half. Ciarain Murtagh levelled the game with two further frees. Clare made it 1-3 to 0-4 mid way through the half before Sean Mullooly and Donie Shine tied the game again. The Clare went on a scoring spree, kicking 1-3 without reply in the space of 10 minutes. Even at this stage the game was getting stretched and it was clearly visible that Roscommon couldn’t handle Clare’s speed. Niall Kilroy pointed a free in the last minute of normal time to leave it 0-7 to 2-6 at the interval.
A charge of fortune?
The introduction of Kevin Higgins and Cian Connolly at the break added some freshness. Clare were down to 14 men shortly after when Cathal O’Connor received a straight red for a high tackle on Niall Daly. Roscommon failed to capitalise on the numerical advantage and in fact Clare seemed to up the tempo. Roscommon’s day went from bad to worse in the space of four minutes when Kevin Higgins received a Black Card and then Sean Mullooly received a second yellow for a late tackle on Podge Collins. Despite plenty of chances in the minutes that followed Clare failed to convert. Roscommon were back in the game in the 54th minute when Enda Smith palmed the ball to the pack of the net following a quick offload by Niall Kilroy. That left the scoreline at 1-7 to 2-7. Roscommon then began to apply pressure but a very disciplined Clare defence stayed strong. A Diarmuid Murtagh free in the 59th reduced the lead to two but it was cancelled out almost immediately.
Clare went into a four point lead shortly after and Roscommon got more desperate. Frustrated by the Banner Blanket a number of attempts were made to find a man on the edge of the square rather than recycling the ball aim for points. With three minutes of normal time remaining Clare went into a five point lead however Conor Devaney replied with a point shortly after. The Fourth Official signalled that a minimum of seven minutes of additional time would be played. Any hopes of a Roscommon revival were well and truly dashed when David Murray was sent to the line after receiving a Black Card to add to his earlier Yellow. Clare added two further points to win on a scoreline of 2-12 to 1-9.
Team and scorers
1 Darren O’Malley
5 Sean McDermott.
3 Sean Mullooly (0-1).
4 Niall McInerney.
6 John McManus.
8 Niall Daly.
2 David Murray.
9 Cathal Compton.
12 David Keenan.
26 Ultan Harney.
24 Niall Kilroy (0-1,f).
20 Enda Smith (1-1).
13 Cathal Cregg.
19 Donie Shine (0-1,f).
15 Ciaran Murtagh (0-3,3fs).
Subs used:
Thomas Corcoran for Compton (32),
Kevin Higgins for Harney (HT),
Cian Connolly for C Murtagh (HT),
Diarmuid Murtagh (0-1,f) for C Cregg (42),
Conor Devaney (0-1) for Higgins (46 BC),
Fintan Cregg for Shine (67).