By Kevin Herron at Rossa Park
Rossa claimed their fifth successive Carmichael Cup with a 3-16-2-06 win over St Paul’s at Rossa Park on Monday evening.
There was only a goal between the sides at the break but Rossa moved through the gears in the second-half and St Paul’s were reduced to fourteen men with Caolan McKernan seeing red.
The hosts started on the front foot and struck first within the first sixty seconds as Dominic McEnhill picked out Eoghan McMenamin who sent the ball between the posts, however neighbours St Paul’s hit back – Caolan McKernan’s long range free looked to be tailing wide, however the ball deflected into the net and St Paul’s led 1-00-0-01.
Rossa responded to that setback and regained the lead within five minutes thanks to four points on the spin – Dominic McEnhill drove the ball over from the left channel and after Micéal Duffy’s puck-out fell cleanly for Conal McDonald, the wing-half forward advanced and coolly levelled.
Daire Murphy restored Rossa’s lead after collecting Owen May’s flick on and popping the ball between the posts, but Caolan Crossan converted a free in response to level the game at 0-04-1-01.
St Paul’s should have led for a second time, but squandered three successive opportunities as Caolan Crossan was guilty of sending two 65’s wide of the post and Caolan McKernan was off range with a third attempt.
Midway through the half Rossa regained the lead, Liam McGurk picked out Dominic McEnhill who was upended and Daire Murphy stroked over the resulting free – Murphy converted a second free a minute later and after turning over the resulting puck-out the hosts went on the offensive, Eoghan McMenamin’s shot dropped short but Dominic McEnhill was lurking and flicked to the net to give his side a 1-06-1-01 lead.
The visitors responded as Caolan McKernan’s free dropped short and Rossa failed to clear their lines which led to Niall Martin scooping the ball over the bar, that was followed quickly by a Caolan Crossan point after Rossa goalkeeper Liam Groves clearance fell short under pressure.
With nine minutes of the first-half remaining Rossa doubled their lead with a second goal, Conal McDonald’s pass picked out Owen May and the nippy corner-forward rifled past Duffy in the St Paul’s goal to give Rossa a 2-06-1-03 lead.
St Paul’s hit back through two quick points from Crossan; one from play and the other a converted free but they had Micéal Duffy to but thank for preventing a third Rossa goal on the stroke of half-time – Daire Murphy’s long ball was flicked down by McMenamin into the path of Dominic McEnhill, but Duffy parried McEnhill’ s drive and before the half-time whistle Caolan Crossan converted his third free of the half to leave a goal between the sides at the break, 2-06-1-06.
Dominic McEnhill assisted the opening point within the first sixty seconds in the first-half and the wing-half forward switched roles within the first sixty seconds of the second period after collecting Jack McGurk’s offload and firing over the black spot.
Young wing-half back Dylan Magee then combined with McMenamin for the second score of the half and seven minutes in St Paul’s hopes of a resurge suffered a blow with the dismissal of Caolan McKernan after a reckless swipe that upended McMenamin.
Daire Murphy converted the resulting free and Rossa began to rack up the scores – the industrious Conall McParland dropped a free that was picked up by Owen May and the youngster picked out McMenamin for his third point of the evening to make it 2-10-1-06.
A further two points followed in two-minute period through Eoin Trainor and a converted McMenamin free – Caolan ó Duibhfinn almost hit back for St Paul’s on a rare surge up field but Conor Erskine closed the angle down ó Duibhfinn who had a goal on his mind.
Eoghan McMenamin made it back to back scores after a cool clearance from corner-back Paul McLaughlin put Rossa on the front foot and the full-forward stroked the ball over the bar.
Conall McParland put in a tremendous shift and was rewarded with a score from play, six minutes from time, just before McParland’ s point Rossa goalkeeper Liam Groves needed to be alert to bat down a Caolan ó Duibhfinn shot after a superb solo run.
Daire Murphy converted back to back frees and a minute from time Rossa completed their evenings work as Dominic McEnhill unselfishly picked out McMenamin in the area and the full-forward rifled past Micéal Duffy to stretch Rossa’s advantage, 3-16-1-06.
St Paul’s ended a one-sided second period with a goal in injury-time, Caolan Crossan rifled low past the quartet of the goal line from a close range free – it was merely consolation however as a young Rossa side ran out 3-16-2-06 winners at the final whistle.
Rossa captain Ciaran Crawford accepted the Carmichael Cup from South Antrim CCC Chairman Michael Herron and after the game the Man of the Match award – kindly sponsored by Workforce Training Services was awarded to midfielder Conall McParland by Chris Ward.
Rossa: L Groves, P McLaughlin, C Erskine, M Murray, D Magee, C Crawford, E Trainor (0-01), C McParland (0-01), C McGettigan, D Murphy (0-06,0-05f), D McEnhill (1-02), C McDonald (0-01), E May (1-00), E McMenamin (1-05, 0-01f), J McGurk.
St Pauls: M Duffy, A Carey, D Stevenson, C Murphy, J Conway, C McKernan (1-00), C Finnegan, N Martin (0-01), D Flynn, G McGoarty, A Hyndman, C ó Duibhfinn, P McKeown, C Crossan (1-05, 1-03f).
Referee: Brendan Toland (Lámh Dhearg)