AFCL 1: Rostrevor
0-10 An Riocht 2-06
By Colm Fitzpatrick
ACL 1
COLGAN CLASS GIVES
KINGDOM SWEET WIN
Rostrevor 0-10 An Riocht 2-6
With Pete McGrath in charge of Kingdom,
there was a special extra ingredient to
the Mourne teams search for their first
win of the season in Fridays derby at
Pettit Park. And two goals in the
opening ten minutes gave the visitors
the start they had dreamed of against
stuttering Reds. The first of these
reflected the lack of composure in the
home full back line with the ball
hopping of one player, then another
before michael harper eventually forced
it to the net off a luckless Rostrevor
defender. The second was more clear cut,
James Cunningham winning the race with
Chris McCartan to tap the ball over the
advancing keepers head and across the
goal-line. Those goals, added to by a
neat point from James Cunningham, left
Rostrevor with a 0-2 to 2-1 deficit to
chase after just fifteen minutes, and
gave An Riocht the platform from which
to forgr a heartening Derby win.
WAVES
Rostrevor, of course, came at them in
waves for much of the rest of the match.
But it was an uphill task, especially
with Brendan McVeighs kick-outs landing
fifty yards from the Rostrevor posts at
every restart, and James Colgan in such
tremendous form at the middle of the
field for the visitors.So Reds
short-passing build up always was
congested and by the time the had made
their way up into the Kingdom half,
there was little space for the forwards
to exploit. That changed a bit when Reds
introduced Martin Doran and Adrian
Mackin from the bench shortly before
half time, but they still trailed 0-5 to
2-3 at the interval, and progress had
been dishearteningly slow.
PROMISE
It began to look more promising on the
restart when both Doran and Mackin were
quickly on target, Lloyd Parr reduced
the gap to a single point by the 38th
minute, and an Adrian Mackin piledriver,
which would have propelled the home team
in front was blocked in the square by
some brave defending. But Kingdom had
more than young Colgans excellence to
call upon. Neil Doran was spraying the
ball around to great effect, and his two
very well taken points in the 44th
and 47th minutes left An
Riocht with a 2-6 to 0-9 lead tp defend
going in to the final ten minutes. It is
a measure of just how constipated
Rostrevors attacking efforts had become
that they only managed a single Lloyd
Parr free from here until the end,
though it still took a marvellous diving
block by James Colgan to deprive Joe
Fegan of a winning goal in added time!
CELEBRATIONS
Some mixed feelings for Pete McGrath,
perhaps, but none at all for An Riocht,
who are entitled to their delight with
their first win of the season, achieved
without the services of their top
scorer, John Clarke. Brendan McVeigh,
Declan O’reilly, James Colgan, Neil
Doran and james Cunningham played
starring roles in a gritty display. For
Rostrevor this was , worryingly, their
third defeat in succession, and their
second consecutive home loss, so they
are in some disarray. Admittedly they
felt the loss of Conor Daly and Martin
Cole, but of more concern must be the
loss of confidence in their short
passing game, while the jury must remain
out on the placing of Shaun Parr on the
40, since his absence from the half back
line deprived Reds of his usual creative
influence. But there were heartening
signs, too. Young Colm Murney continues
to develop into a player of substance,
Joe Fegan worked his socks off in
attack, and both Adrian Mackin and
Martin Doran looked surprisingly sharp
on their return after such lengthy
absences. But the side clearly hs a long
way to go yet before the corner can be
turned.
Rostrevor scorers; Lloyd Parr [0-6] 5
frees; Aidan Cole [0-1]; Joe Fegan
[0-1]; Martin Doran [0-1]; Adrian Mackin
[0-1].
An Riocht scorers; M. Harper [1-1];
James Cunningham [1-1]; Niel Doran [0-3]
1 free; Richie Annett [0-1].
Rostrevor team; Christopher McCartan;
Kevin McGrath, Paul Magee, Jarlath
Farrell; Eddie Magee, Colm Murney,
Turlough Murphy; Fintan McBreen, Jarlath
Austin; Sean Farrell, Shaun Parr, Joe
Fegan; Aidan Cole, Lloyd Parr, Dermot
Mackin.
Subs used: Adrian Mackin for Dermot
Mackin; Martin Doran for Paul Magee;
Colum Clerkin for Aidan Cole.
An Riochr scorers; Brendan McVeigh;
Fergal Doyle, Liam McVeigh, Paul Sherry;
Declan O’Reilly, Jim Clarke, Liam
Fitzpatrick; Aidan Flanagan, James
Colgan; Niel Doran, Kieran McVeigh,
Richie Annett; Paddy Cole, M.Harper,
James Cunningham.
Man of the Match: Niel Doran [An Riocht]
