| O'Raghallaighs stretch lead at top of Division 2 |
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| Saturday, 09 July 2011 16:07 |
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With a good downpour of rain prior to throw in, the surface was a greasy one and the first half proved to be a low scoring affair as both teams, particularly the Joes, struggled to come to terms with the conditions. Chris Smith opened the scoring for the home side after two minutes as he had plenty of space in the Joes defence to take an easy point. The Joes leveled this up in the tenth minute with an Alan Mc Kenna free. But it would be their last score until the 33rd minute, when a good move started by Conor Murtagh was finished by Conal O Hanlon. In between these scores the O Raghallaighs hit four points. The first one was a brilliant score from play, from Tony Grifferty as he shot from near the end line in the left corner. Ben Rogan had a fisted point and a 21 yard free, either side of a Barry Flanagan free. Both sides were guilty of a number of missed chances from wides and shots dropping into the keepers hands. Half Time Score: St Josephs 0-2, O Raghallaighs 0-5 Half time substitute Brendan O Donoghue, got the Joes moving at the start of the second half, when his dink pass into John Mc Guinness, set the hard working half forward up for the first score of the half and reduced the deficit to just two points. However, the crucial period of the game was over the next six minutes, as the O Raghallaighs hit 1-3 without reply to push their lead out to an unassailable eight points. The ideal kickstart to this scoring run for them was a Chris Smith goal, as despite the Joes defence keeping out two shots at goal, they just couldn’t keep out the third, as Smith sidefooted to the net from two yards out. A near immediate point from Barry Flanagan within a minute kept the pressure on. These scores were followed up by a Ben Rogan point from play and a Barry Flanagan free from near the right hand sideline. A well taken point from Tomas Smyth after 15 minutes got the scoreboard ticking over again for the Joes and there was hope that they could rally from here. The next two scoring chances in the game did fall to the Joes and both were goal chances. Firstly, Anthony Kennan cracked a shot from over 20 yards out off the crossbar, before Alan Mc Kenna took a quick free, only to shoot down the throat of O Raghallaighs keeper Joe Flanagan. So, when Conor Murtagh set up Conal O Hanlon for the Joes fifth point in the 26th minute, instead of it being the leveler it merely reduced the deficit to six with only four minutes normal time remaining. Barry Flanagan put any small doubts about the result to rest in these four minutes as he hit a point from play, before scoring a well taken goal. An Alan Mc Kenna free and Peter Brennan point from play in injury time were scant consolation for the visitors. Full Time Score: St Josephs 0-7, O Raghallaighs 2-9 In a poor team performance, those who tried hardest for the Joes were Anthony Keenan, Conor Murtagh, Tomas Smyth and John Mc Guinness. Joes Team: Robert Sansom, Bernard Mulligan, Kevin Woods, Anthony Keenan, Daire Mc Kiernan, Conor Murtagh, Alan Lynch, Peter Mulligan, John Murtagh, Tomas Smyth (0-1), Conal O Hanlon (0-2), John Mc Guinness (0-1), Alan Quigley, Alan Mc Kenna (0-2, 2frs), Derek Mulligan. Substitutions: Brendan O Donoghue for Alan Quigley, David Reilly for Daire Mc Kiernan, Peter Brennan (0-1) for John Mc Guinness, Niall Henry for Kevin Woods (inj), Gary Kinahan for Alan Lynch. O Raghallaighs: Joe Flanagan; Graham Murray, James Moonan, Stephen Murphy; Alan Doyle, Cathal Mc Ginty, Dean Byrne; Robert Mulroy, Ciaran Brassil; Tony Grifferty 0-1. Craig Mc Enteggart, Damien Boyle; Ben Rogan 0-3. Chris Smith 1-1, Barry Flanagan 1-4. [Report: Michael Kinahan] |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 14 July 2011 13:55 |