ACFL Division One
Rossa 0-12-2-14 Lámh Dhearg
Kevin Herron reports from Pairc Rossa
First half goals from Pearse Fitzsimons and Ryan Murray helped Lámh Dhearg into a 10-point lead at the interval and the Hannahstown men were only outscored by two in the second period of their 2-14-0-12 win over Rossa on the Shaws Road on Wednesday evening.
The hosts were off the mark inside of the opening 60-seconds through a well taken Diarmaid Rogan point, but Jody Quinn restored parity with a fine shot on the turn and he then turned provider, collecting a short kick from Mick Byrne and slipping the ball to Ryan Murray to fire the visitors ahead.
A converted Colm Fleming free restored parity, though Murray doubled his account and Ben Rice steered a shot over.
Rossa drew level for a second time when goalkeeper Mick Byrne kicked a two-pointed free and by the midway point in the half it was the hosts that held a 0-6-0-4 lead with Fiachra McDonald and Byrne (free) notching scores.
The game’s opening goal arrived after 20-minutes and saw Lámh Dhearg edge again once more.
John Finucane clipped a free into the path of Ryan Murray and he in turn found Ben Rice to surge towards goal, Rice then dropped a ball into the square where Pearse Fitzsimons palmed the ball home to make it 1-4-0-6.
From the resulting kick out a two pointed score arrived, Adam Murray broke the ball into the path of Niall McGarry and he laid the ball off to Mark Finnegan to drop a shot over from outside the arc.
Finnegan would kick another two-pointer before the break after the Lámhs were awarded a free for a breach and Finnegan opted to bring it outside for a two-pointed attempt that he successfully nailed.
Just before the half concluded Corey Walsh was adjudged to have overcarried as he was about to swing over a point, goalkeeper Mick Byrne was upfield contributing to the attack and was caught out by John Fincuane finding Ryan Murray- Murray was able to burst forward without pressure and wellies a shot past an out of position Byrne and into the net.
There was still time for Mark Finnegan to drop a third two-pointed score from Terry McCrudden’s lay-off and ensure their side were 2-10-0-6 ahead at the break.
Playing uphill and into the breeze in the second period, Rossa opened the scoring in the second period through a Conal McDonald point, though Mark Finnegan responded from the placed ball at the other end.
In between a converted Adam Murray free, Mick Byrne came up and kicked two two-pointed frees to reduce arrears to seven (2-12-0-11) with a quarter of an hour remaining.
Lámh Dhearg managed the last 15-minutes perfectly as Rossa only managed a sole score from Eoin Fleming in the remaining minutes, with Mark Finnegan and Declan Lynch scoring in-between times to ensure that their side had eight to spare at the conclusion and claimed their first victory since the opening game of the campaign.
ROSSA: M Byrne (0-7f, 3×0-2ptf, 0-1f), M McKernan, P Moyes, J McGurk, S McDonald, N Crossan, F McDonald (0-1), P Byrne, E McMenamin, C Walsh, C McDonald (0-1), D Rogan (0-1), C Fleming (0-1f), E Fleming (0-1), R McDonagh. SUBS: O McVicker for F McDonald (43).
LÁMH DHEARG: J Finucane, F Mervyn, D Lynch (0-1), D Smyth, B Rice (0-1), T McCrudden, N McGarry, P Fitzsimons (1-0), C Boyd, A Murray (0-1f), C Murray, R Murray (1-2), M Finnegan (0-8, 0-3f, 2×0-2pt, 1×0-2 ptf, 0-1f), J Quinn (0-1), J Davitt. SUBS: M Herron for J Quinn (57), A McCloskey for R Murray (59).
REFEREE: Paul Burns (ST COMGALLS)
