Roscommon GAA Club Round-up April 20th

A look back at last weekend’s action from the top three divisions of the Roscommon GAA Adult Football Leagues.

Hodson Bay Hotel Roscommon GAA Adult Football League Division One -O’Rourke Cup

Western Gaels V Kilmore

Goals in the 28th and 53rd minute of the game proved the decisive scores for Kilmore in this Div 1 encounter in a dry but breezy Frenchpark on Sunday afternoon last. A depleted Western Gaels side played with the aid of the breeze in the opening half but it was very even throughout the half with scores been swapped on both sides until a very well worked team goal put Kilmore up 1-04 to 0-04.
Western Gaels kicked over the last 2 pts of the half to leave the minimum between the teams on a scoreline of 1-04 to 0-06 in favour of Kilmore.
Western Gaels started the 2nd half stronger and kicked over 3pts to lead 0-09 to 1-05 but to their credit Kilmore battled back and hit 4pts on the trot to leave themselves 1-09 to 0-10 points ahead entering the last 10 mins. The crucial goal then came for Kilmore following a high ball into the square that broke to the unmarked Kilmore man who stuck in the net to leave Kilmore 5pts in front at 2-10 to 0-11. Western Gaels kept going and found the net through a well taken goal from Niall Higgins to set up a frantic last few minutes but Kilmore held firm and kicked over a great free from the sideline in injury time to kill the game.

Strokestown 1-19 Boyle 1-7

Strokestown were convincing winners over Boyle in the senior league game on Sunday at Boyle. The first half was a reasonably close affair but in the second half ‘Town’ went up through the gears and it was easy in the end. Colin Compton opened Strokestown’s account in the first minute of the game and this set the tone for the game as it was Compton who was to add another 9 points to his sides total in a hugely impressive performance. Compton and Donie Smith were the main scorers for each side in the first half with Smith scoring four times with 2 being frees and Compton scoring 3 points 2 including frees. The half-time score was Strokestown 1.6 Boyle 1.5. The goals came from Gareth Gillmartin for Boyle and Ml. Hagen for ‘Town’. Boyle would have felt they well to be just a point in arrears at this stage. The second half provided a succession of evenly spaced points from Strokestown from start to finish and all Boyle could harness was just 2 scores. Stokestown totally dominated the second half with good interplay and strong running and they in Compton especially had the finisher to transfer this into a healthy lead. It has to be said that Boyle were missing nearly half a dozen influential players through injury such as Sean Purcell, Enda Smith, Evan McGrath and Roch Hanmore with Stokestown’s most notable absentee through injury being Cathal Compton.
Best for Boyle, basically all in the first half, were goalkeeper Tadgh Lowe, Ml. Hanmore, Tadgh McKenna, Gareth Gilmartin, Dylan East, Jim Suffin and Donie Smith. For Strokestown, apart from ‘Man of the Match’ Compton, they had great shifts from Kevin Finn, Daniel Rogers, Paddy Brogan, Sean Mullooly and David Neary.
Scorers; Strokestown; Colin Compton 0-10 (3f) S. Collins 0-1, E. Molloy 0-2, D. Molloy 0-1, Ml Hagen 1-0, Kevin Finn 0-4 (2f) Tom Corcoran 0-1.
Boyle, Donie Smith 0-5 (2f), Gareth Gilmartin 1-0, Colin Goldrick 0-1, Jim Suffin 0-1

Roscommon Gael 2-13 Elphin 1-14

On a perfect day for football Roscommon Gaels and Elphin served up a highly entertaining encounter at Lisnamult in the O Rourke Cup.
After Brian Kelly opened the scoring for The Gaels Elphin took control of the game hitting 4 unanswered points including 2 from the highly influential Martin McCaffrey. The vital score of the opening half came in the sixteenth minute when the hard working Gaels Full Forward Johnnie Conteh struck for a goal. This goal edged the Gaels in front and gave them momentum to finish the half strongly leaving the score at the break Ros Gaels 1-07 Elphin 0-05.
Kieran Kilcline proved to be the difference between the two teams in the second half. Having been held scoreless in the first half the Gaels man hit 1-03 from play in the second half. Despite the best efforts of Gerry & Fintan Cregg who were excellent for Elphin, The Gaels entered injury time six point in front. Elphin however fought to the end scoring 1-01 in the last minutes to give us a grandstand finish.

Oran 3-12 Clann na nGael 1-14

Clann travelled to Oran this week to play the third round of the league. Poor conditions underfoot provided heavy playing conditions.  Clann started with a point from Cathal Callinan followed up with another from Donie Shine and looked to take control. 
However Oran hit back with 2 points from play before Shine put over 2 more.  Again Oran got through with a well taken goal from centre forward Jack Earley, the same player was man of the match having caused the defence a lot of problems. Shine hit home another 4 points followed up with a goal from Callinan to leave the score at half time Clann 1-07 to 1-04.
Oran started the 2nd half with intensity and scored 2 points in the first minute and followed up with a goal from a penalty and points from play. 
Clann fought back with points from Donie Shine, his tally of 8 points throughout the game, however Oran went on a scoring spree and finished strong with a goal and several points from play to win this match convincingly.

Mulryan Construction Roscommon GAA Adult Football League Division Two – O’Gara Cup

St Croans 3-9 St Kevins 0-11

As the neighbouring teams came together the atmosphere and tone for the game was set. St Croans opened the scoring with a point from Kevin Smyth , followed by a point from St Kevins Ger Heneghan . A point from Croans Shane Smth at the 9th minute, saw Croans leading by a point.
Ger Heneghan scored another point for the Castlerea side at the 14th minute, followed by a point from Ronan Rafferty . This match saw some great tackling and defending form both sides. Mike Holland playing great for St Croans scored a point at the 21st minute. The atmosphere and emotions were beginning to build , with a hop ball won by Castlerea and Ger Heneghan scoring 3 points from frees awarded. A point from Mike Holland brought the score to 0-03 Croans to Castlerea’s 6points at the 26th minute , a point from Sean Ryan was quickly followed by a well-earned goal from Keith Keenan. A free to Croans saw Kevin Smyth kick the ball clear , another point for the Ballintubber/Ballymoe team gave Croans a 2 point lead at half time Croans 1-05 to 0-06.
The second half took off to a good start for the Castlerea side with 2 points from Heneghan bringing the scores level for the first time in the match. A great pass by Paul Hynes to Keith Keenan gave another point to St Croans .At this stage emotions were rising , another point from Michael Holland gave the home side a 2 point lead once again. At the 46th minute and much to the joy of the home side’s spectators Kevin Smyth scored a great goal from a penalty. Ger Heneghan was again to score a point for his side awarded from a free.
St Croans team were really pulling out all the stops at the 49th minute , with some great ball passing from Aidan Brogan to Shane Smyth led to the third goal of the match for St Croans followed by a point from Castlerea’s Fintan Kelly to bring the scoreline to 3-07 St Croans to 0-10 points St Kevins
Derek Conway went on to replace Paul Hynes who had a great game , a point from Shane Smyth at the 27mins into the second half saw the home team edging to safety with a ten point lead against their neighbouring rivals. Two changes brought Gerry Leetch on for Aidan Brogan and Tommy Garvey for Diamuid Lannon , both lads played exceptionally well for their team.
The final score of the match came from Kevin Smyth bringing the score to St Croans 3-09 to St Kevins 0-11.
The team effort and hard work paid off for the home side and the score board was a reflection of this well earned win by St Croans , in what was a highly emotionally charged game that was very enjoyable to watch.
St Croan’s – Vinny Egan, Diarmuid Lannon, Gregory Grogan, Keith Keenan(1-1), Tomas Mockler, Ross Timothy, Paul Hynes, Keith Muldoon, Mike Holland(0-03), Geard Connaughton , Kevin Smyth (1-03) , Robbie Keenan , Cathal Connelly, Aidan Brogan, Shane Smyth (1-02), Gerry Leetch, Tommy Garvey, Stephen Mockler, Derek Conway
St Kevins’s – Ger Heneghan (0-08) Sean Ryan (0-01) Ronan Raferty (0-1), Fintan Kelly(0-1) Tomas Callaghan, Geofrey Claffey , Niall Connaughton, Edward Creaton , Christopher Dineen , Patrick Gunning, Jamesa Keenan, Gareth McElhone, Patrick O Connor, David Quinn, Joe Caufield, Niall Collins, Cathal Dineen, Cormac Guthrie, Joseph Henry, Fintan Kelly, Darren McDermott, Eoghan O’Connell, Liam O’Connell, Jason O’Reilly

Clann na nGael B 0-16 Tulsk 3-13

The Clann intermediate team played Tulsk in a cold but dry Johnstown on Saturday evening, preceded by the Minor’s win over St. Dominics. Throw in was at 7pm and Tulsk started the better with some early scores. Clann got the score board ticking with a fine score by Kieran Connaughton but Tulsk dominated the game early on scoring a goal in the 15th minute. 
Clann managed 4 points in the first half through Kieran Connaughton, Martin Costello, Killian Bannon and Ronan Killian leaving the score at half time 0-04 to 1-07. 
Clann managed 12 points in the second half but goals were the difference in the end. Killian Bannon took some good scores with both left and right in the second half with Clann having nine different scorers throughout the game, however the Tulsk goals proved the difference. 
Tulsk will be a team with ambition to win intermediate championship so all in all Clann put in good performance.

St Dominics 3-9 Fuerty 0-14

St Dominics secured another two points when they overcame Fuerty on Sunday last in Mulhern Park. Fuerty aided by the breeze started well and and led by 3 pts to nil after 10 mins with points from Lyons, Brennan and Leahy. Dominics settled after this and a Conor Fallon free was followed by a fisted Michael Finneran goal and a further point from Eoin McCormack. Leahy and Lyons added further points for Fuerty to which Conor Fallon replied with a pointed free to leave it 1-3 to 0-5 to the Knockcroghery men at the break. An excellent Peter Leahy point on the resumption levelled matters but then Dominics with Malachy Gately back in charge of his home Club took control and points from Finneran, Fallon and sub Kenny Beirne and a cracking Goal from the impressive Tommy Hurley opened up a six point gap for Dominics by the 42nd min. Fuerty rallied and points from Lyons, Brennan and Ward narrowed the gap to three but another Tommy
Hurley Goal and a Michael Finneran point restored a comfortable seven point lead with five mins remaining.The final minutes was end to end stuff with both sides using their Subs and Fuerty did rally well with points from Brennan (2) ,Lyons (2) and Darragh Mullen but Dominics who were well in control added points from C Fallon and C Hunt to secure a deserved victory.

Éire Óg 1-12 Kilbride 0-14

Éire Óg came away with victory over a Kilbride side that will feel that they left it behind them. Kilbride were three points up after six minutes with three unanswered points but Éire Óg came back into the match to lead at half time 1-09 to 0-05. The goal coming from Barry Nolan.
Kilbride emerged from the dressing room with renewed determination. Six unanswered points in the first sixteen minutes of the second half left Kilbride trailing by the minimum. However Éire Óg dug deep in the closing stages to hold out for the win on a score line of 1-12 to 0-14.
Kilbride; C McDonagh; C Moran; D McDermott; E Tully; P O Grady; J Donnelly; R Kelly; C O’Neill, 0-01; D Clabby, 0-01;  P O’Beirne; C Devaney, 0-04, 1 free; H Walsh, 0-04; P Clabby; F Tully, 0-02; B Merriman, 0-01;  subs S Feely, 0-01 for P Clabby, N Tully for R Kelly, M Feeny for B Merriman
Éire Óg; C Lavin; D Creaton; J Horan; J Carthy; A Woods; D Barron, 0-01; T Greene, 0-02;  D Crawley; P Freeman, 0-02; C Lavin, 0-01; B Nolan, 1-01; R Melvin, 0-01; L Creaton; R Nolan, 0-04, 1 free;  S Quinn; 

Michael Glaveys 2-15 St Faithleachs 1-11

On a perfect day for football, St Faithleachs travelled to Ballinlough for this match. St Faithleachs started off the livelier team with a sharp breeze to their back and went 3-1 up after 10 minutes. Glavey’s kept battling and eventually got on top in the midfield sector with Conor Hussey excelling. Very little separated the teams and just on the stroke of half time Glavey’s found the net leaving the score 1-7 to 6 at half time. After half time it was St Faithleachs that dominated for a 10 minute period but Glavey’s kept themselves in the game with frequent points. Glavey’s then netted again after a Gerard Fagan goal to put them 7 up, but St Faithleachs soon replied through a Ciarain Murtagh penalty. The home team kicked on to run out deserving 7 point winners – 2:15 to 1:11

Roscommon GAA Adult Football League Division 3 – Tansey Cup

Creggs 2-6 Shannon Gaels 0-6

Enda Conneran nets twice to bring his Tally of goals to 6 in the last two games.
Creggs moved to second place in the Tansey Cup with a deserved win in their clash with Shannon Gaels, James McKeague defended well while Enda Conneran and Ronan Kelly were sharp up front. The Gaels, who failed to score from play, were best served by Noel McDermott who was strong in Midfield.

St Aidans 2-10 Elphin 1-8

St Aidans got back to winning ways with a 2-10 to 1-8 over Elphin’s B team in the Orchard Park on Saturday afternoon. The visitors made a good start and led by four points at half-time and were able to protect that lead over an understrength Elphin side to enjoy a comfortable five point.

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