Drumcliffe/RP impress with win over Mary’s
McBride and Paul Logan.
St Mary’s came into the match on the back of an opening round win over Eastern Harps and had their first score on the board after ten minutes when Hubert Gilvarry pointed from play, but it was Drumcliffe/Rosses Point who continued to hold control as the game developed.
Paul Logan added two more scores through placed balls, while Niall Colleary pointed from play to bring the winners’ half-time tally to 0-6.
St Mary’s other first half scores came from Nathan Rooney and Mark McGoldrick to leave the half time score 0-6 to 0-3 in favour of Drumcliffe/Rosses Point.
Significantly, a black card for St Mary’s defender Johnny Martyn when a goal opportunity looked to be on for Drumcliffe/Rosses Point left St Mary’s down to 14 players just before half-time.
The winners made the most of their numerical advantage after the break.
They amassed 2-4 in the period after half-time, with the goals coming from Paul Logan and Neil Ewing after good work from Niall Colleary and Cian Lally.
Ewing also added a point, with Logan raising two white flags, to give the Drumcliffe/Rosses Point a commanding 2-9 to 0-3 lead with less than ten minutes of the second half played.
Two points in a row for Aidan Rooney’s side, from Nathan Rooney and Kyle Cawley, trimmed the deficit to 2-9 to 0-5, but St Mary’s never got to within range to threaten the outcome during the second period.
They did, however, have two goal opportunities - Mark McGoldrick’s effort was well saved by Paul Durcan, while a palmed effort from Stephen Coen went over rather than under the crossbar.
The sides traded points over the course of the last quarter, with Drumcliffe/Rosses Point ending as nine-point winners to leave progression to the semi-finals in their own hands.
St Mary’s will require two wins from their remaining fixtures against Tubbercurry and Shamrock Gaels and then must rely on other results if they are to make it past the group stage.
SCORERS; Drumcliffe/Rosses Point: Paul Logan 1-7 (4f), Niall Colleary 0-4, Neil Ewing 1-1, Cian McBride 0-1. ST Marys: Hubert Gilvarry 0-2, Nathan Rooney 0-2(2f), Stephen Coen 0-2 (1f), Mark McGoldrick, Cian Breheny, Mark Breheny (f), Kyle Cawley (f) 0-1 each.