Senior League Round 2
Slaughtneil 0.11
Magherafelt 0.10
The Rossas suffered a second defeat in the league to Slaughtneil in a tightly contested affair. It would be fair to say that they deserved at least a share of the points through no fault of their own.
The Rossas started brightly and quickly ran into a 4 point lead. Paul Dillon opened the Rossa scores with a neatly slotted point from play. John Young then picked up a loose ball on the 40 and carried to the 21 where he pointed for the Rossas second score. Paul Dillon then scored his second from play with a long range effort before Philip McCabe burst through from Midfield to leave the Rossas leading by 4. This then sparked the Slaughtneil rivival and they dominated midfield for the next 15 minutes scoring 3 unanswered points, 2 from play and 1 free. The Rossas stayed ahead when Chrissy Speirs pointed from a free after the impressive Emmett McGuckin was fouled. The sparkly corner forward for Slaughtneil then grabbed a point from a narrow angle to leave a score point between the sides. Both teams then traded points, again for the Rossas was Paul Dillon scoring an excellent long range free before Shane Kelly converted a 45’ after Ryan Ferris was judged to have been pushed over the endline. Again the Rossas led by a point however this was their final score of the half and Slaughtneil pressed forward to score 3 unanswered points from play to lead 0-08 to 0-06 at half time.
Slaughtneil opened the scoring in the second half with a point from play, Fergal McEldowney collecting a loose ball after Rossa keeper Oisin Kerr who made his senior debut punched clear a high ball from the square. Slaughtneil were now leading by 3 and with the breeze to their advantage, but Rossas reacted with another excellent score from Paul Dillon who converted from a sideline ball. Minutes later Philip McCabe intelligently flicked a mispassed ball into the running path of Emmett McGuckin who pointed to leave single point between the sides. Shortly after McGuckin had been adjudged to been struck in the head, the Slaughtneil player receiving a yellow card to the dismay of the Rossa supporters and players. Shortly after Slaughtneil pointed from play to leave them leading 0-10 to 0-08 with 8 minutes remaining. The Rossas did not stop and battled to the end. Top scorer of the match Dillon pointed from the opposite side of the field to his previous score after collecting a fist pass from Ryan Ferris who attacked up the left wing out of defence. Minutes later Dillon bored down on goal, his shot excellently saved by the Slaughtneil keeper to deny Magherafelt the lead. However, Emmett McGuckin against the breeze, superbly struck the resulting 45 over the bar to leave the teams level on 0-10 each. Both teams went in search of a winner. However the Rossa defence stood strong and when the game looked destined for a draw, McGuckin collected the ball in the Rossa defence and when trying to break out was blatantly fouled and again to the dismay of all supporters Slaughtneil were awarded a free in. Substitute Paul Bradley slotted over to give Slaughtneil a one-point victory. The Rossa’s battled throughout and threw everything at this match, which should have resulted in a share of the points.
Team and Scorers:
Oisin Kerr, Dee Donnelly, Joe Keenan, Ryan Ferris, Paul Purvis, Murtagh O’Brien, Darren O’Neill, Philip McCabe (0-01), Kieran McGlone, Daniel Heavron, Emmett McGuckin (0-02), Conor Smylie, John Young (0.01), Chrissy Spiers (0.01), and Paul Dillon (0.05, 2frees). Subs used: Philip McCusker for Philip McCabe.
