Northern Switchgear Senior Football Championship
Group One
Rossa 4-16 Tír ná nÓg 2-9
Saturday 5 September
Brendan McTaggart reports from Hannahstown
Rossa sealed their place in the quarter finals of the senior football championship with a commanding performance against Tír ná nÓg at Hannahstown on Saturday afternoon. 13 points was their winning margin and probably reflected the gulf between the sides as Sean Fleming’s men went through the gears.
Dominic McEnhill led the scoring charts, scoring 1-8 with three two-point frees and his goal coming from a rebound after his penalty was saved. Stephen Beatty bagged himself a brace of majors while Thomas Morgan’s goal in the second half was a highlight of the game.
Tír ná nÓg started slowly and never really threatened to have everyone reaching for their calculators in this group to see who would go through. Strangely, their one period of dominance in the game came when they were reduced to 14 men – hitting four scores and five points unanswered in a seven minute spell.
Eamon Og McAllister and substitute Caleb McAllister scored their goals, one in either half to briefly reduce the Rossa led to six, but the Jeremiah’s finished the hour strongly scoring 1-4 without reply to ease any fears of another dramatic comeback in Hannahstown.
The Shaw’s Road men started the game on top but looked like they had left their shooting boots behind them – recording three wides before Dominic McEnhill’s first two-point free in the sixth minute. He would add a further brace of two-point frees with the next two attacks for Rossa as they opened a six point lead in the opening 10 minutes.
It was all one way traffic in those opening exchanges and Tír ná nÓg’s first shot on goal resulted in the opening major of the game. Darragh Fagan’s long range free dropping short and causing some chaos in the Rossa defence. The ball fell to Eamon Og McAllister and he made no mistake from close range.
The goal did little to quell the Rossa onslaught however. Points from Michael McEnhill and a ’45 from goal keeper Colm Fleming came either side of a huge goal opportunity. Diarmuid Rogan setting up Stephen Beatty but McAtamney dived to clear his palmed effort.
Beatty would stretch the Rossa advantage to six points when he fisted over before Fagan fired over a two-pointer from placed ball. Dominic McEnhill and Fagan would swap frees before Tír ná nÓg created a massive goal chance. Ciaran O’Neill through on goal but pulled his shot to the left and wide.
Tír ná nÓg’s frustration at the missed chance was compounded less than 60 second later when Rossa scored their first goal of the contest. Corey Walsh on the end of a fast break and while he pulled his shot to the left and looked to be going wide, Beatty stole in at the back post and side footed to the back of an empty net.
Colm Fleming added a two point free moments later to increase the Rossa lead to nine points but Cormac Devlin rounded off the scoring of the half with a point with the last kick before the short whistle to leave the half time score 1-12 to 1-4 in Rossa’s favour.
Tír ná nÓg made a dream start to the second half with half time substitute Caleb Smith finding the back of the net in the 32nd minute. Getting on the end of a high ball and rising highest before palming to the back of the net.
The Randalstown side were playing with more attacking intent and giving the Rossa defence plenty to think about in those early exchanges of the second half. Any momentum they were building was taken away with the loss of Sean Paul McAtamney to a black card. He felled Michael McEnhill inside the square with Darragh Fagan taking his place in goals for the spot kick.
Dominic McEnhill’s spot kick was well saved by Fagan but the Rossa man was first to the rebound and made no mistake.
The Jeremiah’s looked to make the most of their numerical advantage and added a third goal just two minutes later. Dominic McEnhill turning provider this time as he found Thomas Morgan in space. Morgan had a less than favourable angle but somehow managed to find the top corner with a brilliant right footed effort, putting 11 points between the sides.
Tír ná nÓg responded by having their best period of the game. Points from Fagan (free) and Oliver McAtamney preceded a two pointer from Barry McCormick before another Fagan free cut the Rossa lead to six points as the game ticked into the last 10.
Rossa weathered the Tír ná nÓg storm by finishing the game superbly. A point from Beatty preceded a brace of white flags from Morgan before the Jeremiah’s landed their fourth major. Thomas Morgan capitalising on a poor Tír ná nÓg kick out before finding Beatty and he made no mistake for his second major of the hour.
Dominic McEnhill rounded off the scoring with the last kick of the match to make it 1-4 without reply and ensure Rossa sealed their place in the quarter final where they will face Portglenone in two weeks time.
TEAMS
Rossa Starting XV: Colm Fleming; Gavin McGrath, Patrick Moyes, Fiachra McDonald; Peter Byrne, Gerard Walsh, Michael McEnhill; Liam McEnhill, Eoghan McMenamin; Stephen Beatty, Dominic McEnhill, Diarmuid Rogan; Corey Walsh, Niall Crossan, Thomas Morgan
Scorers: D McEnhill 1-8 (3TPF, 2F); S Beatty 2-2; T Morgan 1-2; C Fleming 0-3 (1TPF, 1’45); M McEnhill 0-1
Tír ná nÓg Starting XV: Sean Paul McAtamney; Jude Storrie, Ciaran McGrellis, Ryan Crilly; Daniel McLornan, Barry McCormick, Ciaran Logan; Cormac Devlin, Ciaran O’Neill; Sean McKeown, Sean Duffin, Oliver McAtamney; Eamon Og McAllister, Darragh Fagan, Conor McKenna
Scorers: D Fagan 0-5 (1TPF); E Og McAllister 1-00; Caleb Smith 1-00; B McCormick 0-2 (1TP); C Devlin 0-1; O McAtamney 0-1
Referee: Colly Thompson (St John’s)
TO SEE MORE OF BRENDAN’S PHOTO’S OF THE GAME, FOLLOW THE LINK….
https://myalbum.com/album/h5xeYVXLZiJZHg/?invite=3afe0af0-cedb-4df1-b2df-7aa97a18c103