Battle of St. Mary’s goes in favour of the seasiders

A GOAL in each half propelled the Rosslare crew to a six-point victory in a battle of the St. Mary’s in Group A of the Amber Springs/ Ashdown Park Hotels Intermediate football championship in a blustery Killurin on Saturday.

The pivotal score was a goal from former county star David Murphy midway through the first-half, which was a real fillip for the south county men as the Maudlintown outfit were striving to build up a significant lead with the wind at their backs.

Instead they turned around to face the elements leading by just one (0-6 to 1-2), and it was always going to be an uphill struggle to keep their opponents at bay.

The Wexford town side made a decent start, getting the first four points on the board by the 18th minute, with Dermot Flood opening their account, Todd Hynes converting a free, Donal O’Leary finishing off a flowing move by stepping inside and slotting over a nice score, and Andy Lehane firing over a booming effort.

Rosslare turned the game on its head in the space of a minute, however, with Tiarnan Rossiter grabbing their first point on 19 minutes and David Murphy pouncing for a goal seconds later, when Lee Devereux fed the imposing full-forward and he swivelled and planted the ball past Paul Dempsey.

Rees Broaders then continued the purple patch by edging them in front for the first time, and although Dylan Owens and Dermot Flood contributed eye-catching scores to restore the Maudlintown side’s advantage, they had it all to do, turning around to face into the teeth of the stiff breeze.

Points from David Murphy and Naomhan Rossiter got Rosslare’s noses in front and although Todd Hynes drew the town side level with a well-struck free off the ground in the 40th minute, their opponents struck for a killer goal three minutes later.

Niall Walsh played an angled delivery to Lee Devereux and he did well to gather before teeing up Rees Broaders who slotted the ball to the net.

They quickly rubber-stamped their superiority with two Tiarnan Rossiter efforts sandwiching a Lee Devereux point to build up a six-point advantage by the 46th minute (2-7 to 0-7) and, try as they might, the Maudlintown men just couldn’t bridge that gap.

St. Mary’s (Rosslare): Stephen Breen; Shea Boggan, Emmet Byrne, Gearóid Byrne (capt.); Seán Finan, Naomhan Rossiter (0-1), Niall Walsh; Tiarnan Rossiter (0-4, 1 free), Robert Butler; Larry Morrissey, Andrew Murphy, Cian Boggan; Rees Broaders (1-1), David Murphy (1-1, 0-1 free), Lee Devereux (0-2). Subs. - Stephen Cogley for Breen, inj. (7), Barry Quirke for Morrissey (59).

St. Mary’s (Maudlintown): Paul Dempsey; Tre Long, Alan Lynch (capt.), Mark Doyle; Ross Lynch, Graham Carty, Gary Murphy (0-1); Eddie Pitman, Dermot Flood (0-2); Todd Hynes (0-2 frees), Jamie Thomas, Pierce Dooley; Andy Lehane (0-1), Donal O’Leary (0-1), Dylan Owens (0-2, 1 free). Sub. - Cian Whelan for Lehane (45).

Referee: Niall McDonald (Crossabeg-Ballymurn).