Magherafelt 1-06 Loup 0-08

The seniors had their first victory of the season in a close encounter at Rossa Park against the Loup. The Rossa’s missing a string of players through injury and county duty dug deep in the second half to clinch a vital win by the narrowest of margins. The Rossa’s had the advantage of [...]]]> FOOTBALL:

Magherafelt 1-06
Loup 0-08

The seniors had their first victory of the season in a close encounter at Rossa Park against the Loup. The Rossa’s missing a string of players through injury and county duty dug deep in the second half to clinch a vital win by the narrowest of margins.
The Rossa’s had the advantage of a strong breeze in the first half but failed to use it effectively. It was the Loup who opened the scoring with a point from play followed by a free to lead by 2 points 5 minutes into the game. Paul Dillon then pointed a free, followed by a point from play when Frank Niblock judged a long ball well and setup Dillon nicely for the score. The pace of the game then slowed and both teams created few chances with no scores coming for the next 15 minutes of the half, in fact the Rossa’s failed to score again. Paul Young converted two frees to give Loup a 0-04 0-02 advantage at the interval.
The Rossa’s started the second half much brighter, and although now against the breeze they opened the scoring when Paul Dillon was fouled. He pointed from a free, then minutes later captain Kieran McGlone pointed excellently to leave the sides level. The lead did not last for long as the Loup replied with 3 points of the course of the next 15 minutes. The Rossa’s now trailing by 3 had a possible goal chance when Paul Purvis sent Kieran McGlone through however Kieran’s fisted effort hit the upright but John Young was there to claim it and neatly slotted over to reduce the deficient to 2. The Rossa’s now upped the tempo and an attempted score by Frank Niblock hit the post and fell once again to John Young who struck low under the Loup keeper, the Rossa’s now in the lead for the first time.
Again it did not take the Loup long to reply as Joe O’Kane scored a long range point from play. Although the Rossa’s were not finished, winning a free inside the 45’ entering injury time. Frank Niblock took the shot but against the breeze it dropped short, Philip McCabe rose high and punched the ball over the bar giving victory to the Rossa’s. Final score 1-06 to 0-08.

Team and Scorers:
Neil Convery, Dee Donnelly, Darren O’Neill, Barry Kerr, Paul Purvis, Murtagh O’Brien, Joe Keenan, Philip McCabe (0-01), Kieran McGlone (0-01), Conor Smylie, Kieran McKay, John Young (1-01), Paul Dillon (0-03, 2frees), Frank Niblock and Gerard McKay.

The Reserves were narrowly beaten in an entertaining match losing 1-11 to 1-09.

Team:
Oisin Kerr, Darren McGuckin, Aaron Fearson, Aodhan McGuckin, Kevin Purvis, Caolan Moran, Chris McGuckin, Ronan McKernan, Fergal Hegarty, Declan McErlain, Daniel McErlain, Shea Atchison, Ryan Murphy and Stephen McGuckin.

Fixtures:
There are no minor or senior fixtures this week as the Ulster Championship is on.

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. [...]]]> 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.

It was a good keenly contested game with never more [...]]]> Rossa Seniors defeated Greencastle 1,11 to 0,11 (Rossa 0,6, Greencastle 0,8 at half time) in the Ulster League on Sunday past.There were notable performances from Joe Keenan and Michael Monaghan in defence and Frank Niblock and Jared Monaghan in forwards but particularly from Murtagh O Brien.

It was a good keenly contested game with never more than two points separating teams. Barry Gillis pulled off two excellent saves in second half while at other end Magherafelt missed two one on one chances with keeper. Defining moment came three minutes from time when a passing movement the full length of the field resulted in frank niblock punching home a goal.

Team and scorers were as follows

ULSTER LEAGUE

The Seniors defeated Ahoghill by 2 points in the  The Ulster League, however no report has been submitted. Next weeks game is away to Greencastle in Tyrone at 2pm on Sunday. TBC. Best  wishes for a speedy recovery to Connor Bell who sustained a serious knee injury during the game.