Round 7 of the league saw the Shamrocks face St Marys away on Sunday evening. The return of a few key members from injury of the St Marys team would leave this game a much tougher test for the boys than the earlier reverse fixture.
The game started with the Shamrocks setting the pace, a goal in the 4th minute. Darragh took on the St. Marys defence, cutting in from a tight angle to get a shot away, only for the keeper to divert the ball into the path of Matthew, who palmed the ball into the net. A pointed free from distance by Caolanon the 7th minute led to a period of dominance by the home team. St Marys began to get a foothold on the game and for the next 15 minutes put Roslea on the back foot, scoring 3 points, but could have had more if it wasn’t for the solid work in defence by the boys. An injury to Tadhg saw the introduction of Padraig, who fired over a point within minutes of coming on, in the 21st minute. This appeared to spur the boys on and points quickly followed, a free from Caolan and a point from Rowan, after a turnover by Ciaran, within a minute. Another point from Caolan in the 27th minute and a further point from Matthew in injury time, set up by Rowan, saw the shamrocks lead at the break. Half time score Roslea 1:06, St. Marys 0:03.
The early stages of the second half saw St. Marys take control of the game, right from the throw in. Points in the 32nd, 35thand 40th minutes had the Shamrocks defence under pressure. Having absorbed a lot of pressure Roslea finally found their way up the field, some good work by Daniel Murphy and Ciaran, before Ciaran laid the ball off to Charlie to fire over our first score of the second half in the 41st minute. Two frees in quick succession saw the Shamrocks maintain their advantage, but this seemed to reignite the home team. The last 15 minutes saw Roslea pinned back in their own half, St. Marys going all out to salvage something from the game. Three points from the home team took them to within a single score. Solid defending from Niall, Karl, Daniel Reilly, Charlie and in particular Conor Woods kept a little bit of daylight between the teams. A rare attack late on in the half led to Caolan getting his 6th point on the day, followed by another point from St. Marys in 60th minute left a goal between the teams. A frantic few minutes of injury time followed and with nothing to lose, St. Marys went for the draw, only to be denied by a goal line clearance with the last kick of the game, Darragh standing firm on the goal line to palm the ball away from danger. Final score Roslea 1:10 St. Marys 0:10.
TEAM: Ruadhan Beggan, Niall Flynn, Conor Woods, Daniel Reilly, Karl Callaghan, Charlie Rooney, Daniel Murphy, Darragh Flanagan, Rowan Connolly, Matthew Corbett, Tadhg Brady, Caolan Rooney, Ciaran Donaghy, Padraig McAloon, Connor Rooney.
