All County Football League Division Two
Dunloy 0-9 Rossa 1-18
Brendan McTaggart reports from Pearse Park, Dunloy
Rossa returned to winning ways on Thursday evening with a comprehensive victory over Dunloy in Pearse Park. The Shaw’s Road side put the Cuchullains to the sword over the 60 minutes with a strong and controlled performance with the final score a fair reflection of their hours work.
10 different scorers with 1-15 of their tally coming from play, the Jeremiah’s did enough in the first half to put this one beyond the reach of the home side. Michael Armstrong’s early goal setting the tone as they relentlessly kept pressure on the Dunloy defence. Full forward Colin Fleming top scored with 0-4 beside his name by the full time whistle, his 46th minute effort with the outside of his boot the pick of the scores on the night and while he may have added just one point for his efforts, Eoghan McMenamin showed once again that he’s one of the hottest properties within the county, putting on an exceptional performance and tormenting the home side. Eoin Fleming and Conal McDonald also catching the eye with 0-5 from play between for the Rossa men.
Dunloy were without a lot of their regulars with Kevin McQuillan added to their injury list while their U21 dual players were given the night off with one eye on the hurling final next week. The home side started brightly and opened the scoring, Declan McGarry with his first of five frees in a personal tally of 0-6 over the hour but the Cuchullains struggled to get any change out of a strong Rossa midfield and a well organised defence.
The home side did fare much better after the restart with Shane Dooey, Nigel Elliott and Anthony Smith all catching the eye along with Jamie McFerran and McGarry as they began to enjoy more possession in the visitor’s half after the interval but Rossa by enlarge were able to keep them at arms length.
A strong performance from the Shaw’s Road side after suffering their only defeat of the season last day out against Tír na nÓg. They have opened a four point cushion over second place Moneyglass and remain the team to catch when the league begins again after the split.
Thursday nights result was the Cuchullains fourth defeat in what has been an up and down season so far but with a top six place secure before this fixture, the Cuchullains can look forward to the second half of the season and prepare for the championship later in the summer.
TEAMS
Dunloy: Anthony Doran; Patrick Kinsella, Adrian Scullion, Karl O’Kane; Kieran Hughes, Jamie McFerran, Oran Quinn; Gabriel McTaggart, Peter McQuillan; Eoghan McGrath, Karl Fitzpatrick, Anthony Smith; Nigel Elliott, Shane Dooey, Declan McGarry.
Scorers: Declan McGarry 0-6 (5 f’s); Anthony Smith 0-1; Nigel Elliott 0-1; Shane Dooey 0-1.
Rossa: Michael Byrne; Michael McGreevey, Richard Gowdy, Niall Crossan; Sean Finch, Michael Armstrong, Padraig McGreevy; Stephen Beatty, Oisin McVicker; Sean Pat Donnelly, Eoghan McMenamin, Darren Grego; Eoin Fleming, Colin Fleming, Conal McDonald.
Scorers: Colin Fleming 0-4 (2 ‘45’s); Michael Armstrong 1-1; Eoin Fleming 0-3; Conal McDonald 0-2; Darren Grego 0-2; Oisin McVicker 0-2; Stephen Beatty 0-2; Sean Finch 0-1; Sean Pat Donnelly 0-1 (1 f).
Referee: Karol Doherty (Rasharkin)
