Veteran Murphy as sharp as ever
ST. MARY’S (R’LARE) 2-15 BANNOW-B’MITTY 1-9
VETERAN DAVID Murphy proved pivotal in St. Mary’s (Rosslare) annexing a comfortable nine-point victory over Bannow-Ballymitty in this Amber Springs/Ashdown Park Hotels Intermediate football championship Group A game in Taghmon on Saturday.
Murphy, better known as an outstanding centre-back, played at full-forward on this occasion where his experience proved invaluable.
He helped himself to a personal tally of 1-5, while he was also instrumental in setting up many more scores as his side maintained their perfect start to the championship campaign with back-to-back victories.
For Bannow-Ballymitty the struggle goes on as they suffered a second successive defeat. While they showed improvement on their initial outing, it was nowhere near good enough to match the opposition’s high-tempo passing game.
Their cause was not helped when they had full-back John Staples straight red-carded close to the interval, while they also suffered two black card indiscretions following the intervention of linesman Seán Whelan.
They played out the final minutes with 13 players, not replacing the second black-carded player. It was a game that had its usual amount of inconsistent decisions which drew the wrath of the players, particularly when clear fouls went unpunished.
St. Mary’s started the game impressively, racing into a 0-5 to nil lead by the tenth minute. After a Tiarnan Rossiter pointed free had opened the scoring after two minutes, David Murphy followed with two further pointed frees.
Lee Devereux and Rees Broaders also got in on the scoring act, before Bannow-Ballymitty eventually opened their account with a 13th-minute Micheál Murphy point, leaving it 0-5 to 0-1 at that stage.
Bannow-Ballymitty tried to utilise the strong breeze as they responded with two further unanswered points through Joe Sinnott (free) and Conor Neville, reducing the deficit to two after 17 minutes.
St. Mary’s managed to lift the siege with a Cian Boggan point, and then came the Staples dismissal, although his side responded with an Arthur Sweetman point.
Utilising their numerical advantage, St. Mary’s finished the half strongly. After Shea Boggan and Joe Sinnott (free) had exchanged points, Murphy powered his way into space before firing high into the corner of the net, leaving the eventual winners leading by 1-7 to 0-5 at the interval.
Turning over with the assistance of the breeze, St. Mary’s put the result beyond doubt within three minutes of the re-start.
First David Murphy kicked over a fine point, while one minute later he got on the end of a long ball and picked out the inrushing Robert Butler who finished low to the net, extending his side’s lead to 2-8 to 0-5.
Bannow-Ballymitty gave brief hope of a recovery when Joe Sinnott slotted home a 36th-minute penalty, but that was as good as it got for his side.
They had Conor Neville black-carded two minutes later, while St. Mary’s went on to pick off scores at will before matters deteriorated further for the eventual losers when Pádraig McCormack was shown a black carded in additional time.
St. Mary’s: Gavin Morris; Liam O’Connor, Emmet Byrne, Conal Grant; Seán Finan, Naomhan Rossiter, Shea Boggan (0-1); Tiarnan Rossiter (0-1 free), Robert Butler (1-0); Cian Boggan (0-2), Andrew Murphy, Rees Broaders (0-1); Lee Devereux (0-3), David Murphy (1-5, 0-2 frees), Danny Furlong (0-1). Sub. - Kevin Power (0-1) for Furlong.
Bannow-Ballymitty: Jack Farragher; David White, John Staples, Pádraig McCormack; Ryan Morris, Art Sweetman (0-1), Jack Donohue; Mark Wallace, Conor Furlong; Conor Neville (0-1), Micheál Murphy (0-1), Robert Cogley; Joe Sinnott (1-4, 1-0 pen., 0-2 frees), David Currid, Jon Reville. Subs. - John Mernagh for Neville (black card), Richie Walsh (0-2) for Currid.
Referee: Philip Murphy (Faythe Harriers).