Murphy levels it up
Rosslare and Bannow-Ballymitty tied
A DAVID Murphy free in the third minute of injury time earned St. Mary’s (Rosslare) a share of the spoils in a hard-fought Amber Springs/Ashdown Park Hotels Intermediate football championship Group A encounter in Hollymount on Saturday.
Last season’s beaten semi-finalists had fallen behind to a free from the excellent Niall Harney moments earlier, but ex-county stalwart Murphy held his nerve to rescue a point for the Rosslare men.
The result was probably a fair reflection of the game, with St. Mary’s guilty of overworking the ball on occasion, while Bannow-Ballymitty were overly reliant on Harney for scores, with the ace attacker contributing twelve points of their tally.
There was never more than a point between the sides in the opening period, and the score was 0-6 to 0-5 in favour of Bannow-Ballymitty at half-time, with Harney contributing all but one of their first-half total, with Art Murphy also splitting the posts for the New Ross District men.
Harney also created a goal chance in the 15th minute when he picked out Jon Reville, but his effort was well saved by Rosslare goalkeeper Gavin Morris.
David Murphy (free), Andrew Murphy and Lee Devereux all split the posts for St. Mary’s, while Tiarnan Rossiter finished the half strongly, slotting over a point from a tight angle in the 22nd minute and adding another fine effort from play moments later.
St. Mary’s created two good goal chances either side of a Niall Harney free just after the change of ends.
First Cian Boggan saw his shot well blocked by Bannow-Ballymitty goalkeeper Philly Murphy, and the netminder was again alert to deny Rhys Broaders, who knocked the follow-up over the bar.
St. Mary’s looked to have plundered the pivotal score in the 38th minute, when Tiarnan Rossiter gathered possession, after good work from Broaders and David Murphy, raced through on goal and arrowed a shot to the far corner of the net, to give them a 1-7 to 0-8 advantage.
A Rossiter free with a quarter of the game remaining extended the lead to three points (1-10 to 0-10), but they just couldn’t shake off the stubborn resistance of the Bannow-Ballymitty men.
Former county defender Niall Murphy knocked over a fine point on the turn in the 48th minute, and the irrepressible Harney reeled off three points on the trot to edge them in front as the game ticked into injury time.
However, Rosslare weren’t done just yet and up stepped David Murphy to fire over a free with 62 minutes on the clock to earn his side a valuable point.
Bannow-Ballymitty: Philly Murphy (capt.); John Staples, Robert Mageean, Podge McCormack; Micheál Murphy, Conor Furlong, Nicky Doyle; Richie Walsh, Art Sweetman; Joe Sinnott, Mark Wallace, Niall Harney (012, 7 frees); Jon Reville, Niall Murphy (0-1), Art Murphy (0-1). Subs. - Mark Colfer for A. Murphy, John Mernagh for McCormack.
St. Mary’s (Rosslare): Gavin Morris; Barry Quirke, Emmet Byrne, Shay Boggan; Cian Boggan (0-1), Gearóid Byrne (capt.), Niall Walsh; Robert Butler, Naomhan Rossiter; Paul Kinsella, Andrew Murphy (0-1), Rhys Broaders (0-2); Lee Devereux (0-2), David Murphy (0-2 frees), Tiarnan Rossiter (1-3, 0-1 free). Subs. - Seán Finan for A. Murphy, Jason Ellard for Byrne (black card).
Referee: Mick Lanigan (Shelmaliers).