Over The Water men in control

Vols offer token resistance

CROSSABEG-BALLYMURN ran riot in this Joyces Expert Intermediate ‘A’ football championship Group B game, easily accounting for Volunteers in Oylegate on Sunday.

From the early stages it was evident that there would only be one winner, and after five minutes the damage was as good as done, with Pádraig Foley, Andy Butler, and Oran Maddock all finding the range, before Foley finished off a well-worked move for a goal.

Volunteers just couldn’t cope with their far superior opponents and never looked like posing any threat, with Butler, Foley and Ronan Devereux dominating proceedings in the opening half.

Butler and Devereux both added braces to put their side ahead by twelve leading up to half-time, and Cian Lambert was unlucky not to find the net moments later when his shot unluckily hit the post.

Volunteers’ sole score of the half came when Keith Kearney grabbed a minor just before the break.

The 2015 beaten finalists showed that they will undoubtedly be serious title contenders again this season as they continued to pick off some impressive scores for the remainder of the game, with Conor Shovlin hitting two points and Martin Redmond kicking a point before setting Bill Eviston up for a straightforward goal chance.

The Vols did their best to restore some pride and Peter Walsh was proving to be quite a handful, taking on his opponents at every opportunity and kicking three impressive points.

But Crossabeg-Ballymurn showed their strength-in-depth with the introduction of Evan Kinlough and Sam Kelly who wasted no time in getting on the scoresheet, and both kicked 1-1 to completely finish off their opponents.

This marked Crossabeg-Ballymurn’s second win of the campaign while Volunteers just have a draw to show for their efforts thus far.

Crossabeg-Ballymurn: Ben Turner; Conor Gormley, Oisín Foley, Conor Barlow; Conor Devereux, Ronan Devereux (0-2), Martin Redmond (0-1); Paddy Devereux, Pádraig Foley (1-2); Cian Lambert (0-1), Bill Eviston (1-0), Conor Shovlin (0-2); Andy Butler (0-5, 3 frees), Rob Byrne, Oran Maddock (01). Subs. - Eoin O’Connor for Gormley, Evan Kinlough (1-1) for Shovlin, Sam Kelly (1-1) for Maddock.

Volunteers: John Cody; Luke Dowdall; Paudge Brennan, Brian Delaney; Brian Sheridan, Mick Murphy, Mikey Lawlor; Keith Furlong, Ben McMahon; Aaron McGuire, Jack O’Leary (0-3, 2 frees), Cian Brennan; Jason Kearns, Keith Kearney (0-1), Peter Walsh (0-3). Subs. - Paddy Glover for C. Brennan, Ciarán Hillery (0-1) for McMahon.

Referee: Derek Murphy (St. Martin’s).