O’Neills ACHL Division One
Rossa 1-19-0-16 Ballycastle
Kevin Herron reports from Pairc Rossa
Rossa got their hurling league campaign off to a winning start, after holding off a strong Ballycastle fightback to claim a 1-19-0-16 win at Rossa Park on Sunday afternoon.
The hosts dominated the early exchanges on the scoreboard with Deaglan Murphy converting two frees, popping over from play, assisting a Pearse Short point and then landing a magnificent angled score from out by the sideline.
Neal McAuley opened Ballycastle’s account from a converted free, with Murphy adding his third placed ball at the other end.
The elder of the returning Murphy brothers continued to add scores at will, conjuring up another free, younger brother Daire got in on the act and a further Deagaln score from play opened up a 0-9-0-1 lead.
Ballycastle would claw their way back into proceedings in the later stages of the half but for the meantime had to time their scores with Tiernan Smyth squeezing a shot inside of the posts.
Rossa almost claimed the opening goal when Deaglan Murphy slipped a pass inside to Pearse Short, but Short was bottled up by full-back Dermot Donnelly.
Four unanswered points would follow though, Deaglan Murphy adding another two placed balls, Eoghan McMenamin swung an angled shot over and Stephen Beatty dropped a fine point from range.
The visitors ended the half in ascendancy with three unanswered scores of their own. Lorcan Donnelly floated a shot over from Dermot Donnelly’s layoff, he then got his angles right shortly afterwards and Cahir Donnelly would provide another before the short whistle, though they did have their work cut-out- trailing 0-13-0-5 at the interval.
Half-time substitute Tiarnan Murphy clipped over the opening score of the second period and an Eoin Trainor score shortly afterwards had the winning margin at double figures.
Like the opening half, Neal McAuley got his side up and running from the placed ball- dropping a 65’ over and it was the first of five in a row that halved the deficit for the visitors
Conor Donnelly opened his personal account for the afternoon, Cahir doubled his and further points from Seamus McAuley and Neal McAuley from play made it 0-15-0-10.
Momentum was momentarily halted thanks to Deaglan Murphy’s seventh converted free of the day, though Neal McAuley responded from the same scenario at the other end.
McAuley punished a further three infringements in the aftermath as Ballycastle had closed to within two-points with little over five minutes remaining (0-16-0-14).
Another Murphy free again stopped the visitors momentum and on the 57th minute Rossa looked to have sealed the points when substitute Tiarnan bore down and steered a low shot beyond the reach of Eamonn Elliott.
Ballycastle rallied briefly through a Seamus McAuley point from play and a sixth converted free from McAuley.
However, the hosts ended the afternoons scoring through a splendid Tiarnan Murphy attempt that dropped over and point from youngster and substitute Liam McEnhill.
Donal Armstrong needed to be alert to deny Conor Donnelly in added time and from the resulting 65’, Seamus McAuley floated the ball towards goal and Declan McCartney made a vital stop on the line as Rossa held out for a 1-19-0-16 win and join Sundays other winners on the league summit.
ROSSA: D Armstrong, C McGuinness, C Orchin, C Boyle, D McCartney, S Beatty (0-1), O McVicker, D Rogan, D Murphy (0-11, 0-8f), C O’Neill, P Short (0-1), Daire Murphy (0-1), D Rocks, E Trainor (0-1), E McMenamin (0-1). Subs: T Murphy (1-02) for C O’Neill (HT), L McEnhill (0-1) for D Rogan (50), M Armstrong for Daire Murphy (55).
BALLYCASTLE: E Elliott, O Kearney , D Donnelly, R McCook, M McClean, J McShane, R Laverty, S McAuley (0-2), Cahir Donnelly (0-2), J McToal, N McAuley (0-8, 0-6f, 0-1 65’), R McClean, Conor Donnelly (0-1), T Smyth (0-1). Subs: C Butler for R McClean (HT), D Kelly for J McToal (40), A Kelly for R McCook (45), C McAuley for L Donnelly (49), Darragh Donnelly for C Butler (56).
REFEREE: Paddy Tumelty (LÁMH DHEARG)
