AFCL 1: Rostrevor
0-08 Burren 0-5
By Colm Fitzpatrick
ACL 1:
REDS EDGE DULL DERBY
Rostrevor 0-8 Burren
0-5
After a week in which
all the talk was about a game “with two
bad defences”, a game with two good
ones. Both rearguards are entitled to
preen themselves after confining their
opponents to a slim six points from play
[five of them to Rostrevor]. But there
was little else to cheer on a dull, damp
evening.
POOR ENTERTAINMENT
It was poor
entertainment. Perhaps that was due to
the fact that one of the players with
most potential to entertain, Adrian
Mackin, left the field after only three
minutes, but not before screwing over a
typically brilliant point to open the
scoring, and another, Joe Fegan,
followed him shortly for a blood injury,
and was eventually substituted also in
the second half. Rostrevor still had
enough creativity going through wing
forwards Lloyd Parr and Conor Macken to
take a 0-5 to 0-2 half time lead, but
three of their other four first half
points were from Lloyd parr frees, and
only one from play, setup for Martin
Doran by Joe Fegan. On the other hand,
Burren were incapable of a single score
from play in that first half, relying on
PJ McAlinden and Aidan McGivern for two
frees.
TURGID
It got even more
turgid in the second half.Reds managed
only one point between the 30th
and 60th minutes. A peach it
was, too, Shaun Parr cutting through
onto a pass from the promising Colm
Murney in the 43rd minute.
But then Burren weren’t much better. PJ
McAlindens two frees in the 32nd
and 55th minutes took them to
within a point of the home side, but
their only point from play over the
entire match was hooked over in the 48th
minute by sub Glen McMahon. It was the
closeness of the scores more than the
quality of the football which kept the
large crowd in situ until the end, but
Rostrevor had played the more attractive
stuff over the hour, and justice was
done when Martin Doran popped up to hit
two clinching points in added time, the
first of these when he picked up a
rebound after Conor Mackin had broken
through only to see his shot parried by
Marty Rocks.
DEFENCES ON TOP
As alluded to
already, it was defenders who played
most of the football on Friday.
Christopher McCartan, Kevin McGrath,
Jarlath Farrell and Shaun Parr looked
good for Reds while Ronan McGivern,
Kevin McKernan and Garnet McFerran stood
out for the visitors. The most
accomplished of the four midfielders was
young Colm Murney, no mean accolade when
you consider that seasoned warriors like
Jarlath Austin, Sean ward and Ciaran
Doyle were also operating in this
sector. There were two outstanding
forwards on the pitch, Burrens PJ
McAlinden and Rostrevors Conor Mackin.
What swung it for Reds was that, at
different times, they also had sparks
from Joe Fegan, Martin Doran and Lloyd
Parr to see them through.
Rostrevor scorers;
Martin Doran [0-3]; Lloyd Parr [0-3] 3
frees; Adrian Mackin [0-1]; Shaun Parr
[0-1].
Burren scorers; PJ
McAlinden [0-3] 3 frees; Aidan McGivern
[0-1] 1 free; Glen McMahon [0-1].
Rostrevor team:
Christopher McCartan; Eddie Magee, Gary
Magee, Kevin McGrath; Shaun Parr, Sean
Farrell, Jarlath Farrell; Colm Murney,
Jarlath Austin; Lloyd Parr, Fintan
McBreen, Conor Mackin; Adrian Mackin,
Joe Fegan, Martin Doran.
Subs used; Aidan
Cole; Colm Clerkin [blood]; Eamon
McConville
Burren team; Martin
Rocks; Gerard McCartan, Ciaran
McGovern,Ronan McGivern; Conor McCann,
Kevin McKernan, Garnet McFerran; Sean
Ward, Ciaran Doyle; Aidan McGivern, PJ
McAlinden, Eamon McGovern; Kevin
McGivern, Ciaran Byrne, Johnny Murtagh.
Subs used; Paul
O’Hare, Ronan McGovern, Glen McMahon
