ACFL 1: LIATROIM ROCK REDS - Liatroim 2-11 Rostrevor 1-10
A freak 53rd minute goal from
Patrick Pearse McCartan turned looming
defeat into unexpected victory for
feisty Liatroim at Fontenoy Park on
Thursday evening.
In an eventful game, Liatroim had
blitzed their way to an exciting early
1-6 to 0-1 lead, then struggled as Conor
Daly inspired the visitors back on a
comeback trail which left them 1-9 to
1-8 up with ten minutes to play, and
exploiting intelligently the extra man
advantage they had enjoyed since the 34th
minute when Liatroim’s Damien Rice
received his second yellow card!
SPECTACULAR START
This was a game of very distinct phases.
The first of these spectacularly
belonged to Liatroim, who ran Rostrevor
to rags in the opening twenty minutes.
Reds were lucky to find themselves 0nly
0-1 to 1-6 behind at this stage, for as
well as a flow of points from Thomas
Armstrong, Michael McCartan, Peter
Owens, Aidan Brown and P.P.McCartan [2],
and a well-taken goal by Peter Owens in
the 10th minute, they had hit
the woodwork twice and had a credible
penalty appeal overturned.
DALY INSPIRES REDS
The next phase was shaped by the
emergence of Conor Daly as the
“game-runner” from the Rostrevor
midfield. And now it was Liatroim who
were struggling. As Conor himself, Lloyd
Parr, Gary Magee Gary Farrell and Sean
Parr picked off the points which left
Reds only 0-6 to 1-6 behind at half
time. The visitors’ optimism was
tempered, however, by the sight of their
star player hobbling off with a
hamstring injury just before half time.
But this loss appeared to be balanced by
the reduction of Liatroim to fourteen
men five minutes in to the second half,
with the dismissal of Damien Rice for a
second yellow card.Rostrevor seemed to
be using the extra man intelligently,
and when Joe Fegan swooped in from the
blind side to sweep home a tempting
cross from Gary Farrell, Rostrevor
looked on the way to a win. Two Lloyd
Parr frees pushed them 1-9 to 1-8 clear
by the 50th minute, and even
though Aidan Burns levelled things again
from a free, the impetus was very much
with Rostrevor. Until Patrick Pearse
McCartan sent in a 45 in the 53rd
minute which dipped late, and went into
the net off the underside of the
Rostrevor crossbar. Before Reds could
absorb what had happened, jubilant
Liatroim had added further points from
eamon Middleton and Peter Owens, and
there simply was not enough time left
for Rostrevor to mount a genuine assault
on that lead.
GOOD WIN
This was a fine win for Liatroim, in the
absence of important players like Liam
Doyle, Aidan O’Prey and Colin McCrickard.
Ciaran Bannon, Aidan Rice and Dan Morgan
defended strongly, Thomas Armstrong was
highly effective at midfield, and the
attack buzzed around the leadership of
Patrick Pearse McCartan and Paul
Brennan.
Rostrevor took a while to settle in
defence, but once Jarlath Farrell and
Sean Farrell got to grips with Liatroim,
they controlled the home attack until
the last ten minutes or so. Conor Daly
was sadly missed from midfield in the
second half, but up front G.
Liatroim scorers; Patrick Pearse
McCartan [1-3]; Peter Owens [1-2]; Aidan
Brown [0-3]; Michael McCartan [0-1];
Eamonn Middleton [0-1].
Rostrevor scorers; Joe Fegan [1-0];
Lloyd Parr [0-3]; Gary Farrell [0-2];
Niall Farrell [0-1]; Gary Magee [0-1];
Sean Parr [0-1];
Liatroim team; Hugh Smyth; Damien Rice,
Paul Middleton, Ciaran Bannon; Stephen
O’Higgins, Aidan Rice, Dan Morgan;
Eamonn Middleton, Thomas Armstrong;
Peter Owens, Patrick Pearse McCartan,
Michael McCartan; Gerard Murphy, Paul
Brennan, Aidan Brown.
Rostrevor team; Dominic Fearon; Kevin
McGrath, Gary Magee, Jarlath Farrell;
Eddie Magee, Turlough Murphy; Sean
Farrell; Conor Daly, Niall Farrell; Sean
Parr, Gary Farrell, Colm Clerkin; Lloyd
Parr, Joe Fegan, Martin Doran
