ACFL 1: Rostrevor
0-14 Clonduff 2-14
By Colm Fitzpatrick
ACL 1
YELLOWS STRIKE LATE
GOAL RUSH
Rostrevor 0–14 Clonduff 2-14
When Colm Clerkin struck a great point
to put Rostrevor back into a 0-12 to
0-11 lead five minutes from time, things
were looking Bright enough for Rostrevor
at Pettit Park. After all, they had ed
this game for most of the fifty-five
minutes up until that, and it was
Clonduff who had had to do the chasing.
But five minutes can be a long time in
football.
STUNNED
Rostrevor fans had to look on stunned as
Clonduff mounted a scoring blitz in the
closing minutes to lift both points in
this entertaining South Down derby.
First Conor O’hagan and jason Brown
conjured a path through the reds defence
for John Fegan to roll the ball past the
advancing Christopher Mccartan. And
Plunkett Mcconville popped over a free
to leave the visitors a goal ahead1 it
might not have been enough either, for
with tree minutes left, young Colm
Murney powered through on the right wing
only to see his drive clear the Clonduff
crossbar. But Clonduff,
counter-attacking lethally made the most
of their let-off, with John Fegan and
Gary McDonald springing back for further
points, and Jason Brown leaving the home
support disbelieving as he cut through
for a peach of a goal in added time!
HINT
To be fair, it wasn’t quite as huge a
turnaround as it sounds. There had
always been more than a hint of such
counter-attacking brilliance in
Clonduffs play, enough to keep them in
contention when Rostrevor were pressing
forward for most of the game anyway. It
had been a strange game, if an enjoyable
one. Aidan Farrell had taken a gamble by
introducing no fewer than seven new
faces from the previous Fridays win over
Burren, ostensibly in the interests of
giving outings to most of his senior
panellists. But the gamble seemed as if
it might pay off. Reds deserved their
0-7 to 0-5 half time lead. martin Dorans
mobility and industry had seen him shoot
three fine points from play. Dermot
Mackin, Aidan Cole, Colm Clerkin and
Brian Cole had the others. Yellows were
slightly flattered to be so closely in
touch, for two of their points, from
John Fegan and Plunkett McConville had
come in added time, and apart from the
energy of John Fegan, Shane Wards
masterful promptings from deep positions
were not meeting with the rewards they
deserved.
CHANGE
Things began to change after the break.
Martin Cole had to be moved away from
corner back to attend to problems
elsewhere in the Rostrevor defence, and
without a super-fit countyman to contend
with, Conor O’Hagan emerged quickly as
the cutting edge for the Clonduff
attack. O’Hagan fed Gary McDonald for a
fisted point in the first minute and cut
through himself for another three
minutes later. Alarmed, reds raised
their game. Dermot Mackin pointed from
out near the right touchline, Niall
Farrell burst through the middle for a
point which could well have been a goal,
and a gorgeous through pass from Martin
Cole picked out his brother, Brian to
make it 0-10 to 0-7 after 38 minutes. It
was good to watch now. Two superb
individual scores from Conor O’Hagan and
Dermot Mackin still left the score at
0-11 to 0-8 for Reds going in to the
final quarter, but still Clonduff kept
plugging away. Plunkett McConville
converted a free, Conor O’Hagan outpaced
the defence for another point and with
less than ten minutes to go, Plunkett
McConville sent over the equaliser! Reds
seemed to have responded appropriately
when Colm Clerkin swung over that
inspirational twelfth point, but the
inspiration was to Clonduff, and manager
Benny Corrigan can justly be proud of
the Bryansford-like counter-attacking
which reaped his team two goals and
three points in the final five minutes!
GOOD WIN
This was a good win for Clonduff. Paudie
Matthews , Francis Quinn and gary
McDonald defended with pace. Peter
Withnall belied his years with a busy
forty-five minute shift at midfield.
Shane ward was at the heart of
everything, John Fegan ran his socks
off, and Conor O’Hagan had a field day
when no longer in the shadow of a
county-standard opponent. Reds will be
disappointed, but it has to be some
consolation to Aidan Farrell that he has
so many players battling for places. On
Monday, martin Cole, Shaun Parr, Eddie
Magee and Dermot Mackin looked best in
defence, Colm Murney had a fine first
half at midfield, and Conor Mackin,
Martin Doran and Brian Cole all had
their moments in attack.
Rostrevor scorers; Martin Doran [0-3];
Dermot Mackin [0-3] 1 free; Brian Cole
[0-2]; Colm Clerkin [0-2] 1 free; Aidan
Cole [0-1]; Niall Farrell [0-1]; Colm
Murney [0-1]; Joe Fegan [0-1]
Clonduff scorers; John Fegan [1-3] 2
frees; Plunkett McConville [0-4] 2
frees; Jason Brown [1-1]; Conor Og
O’Hagan [0-3]; Gary McDonald [0-2];
Shane Ward [0-1].
Rostrevor team; Christopher McCartan;
Eddie Magee, Gary Magee, Martin Cole;
Shaun Parr, Eamon McConville, Dermot
Mackin; Niall Farrell, Colm Murney; Gary
Farrell, Martin Doran, Colm Clerkin;
Aidan Cole, Conor Mackin, Brian Cole.
Colnduff team; Bernard Brannigan; Rory
Grant, Paudie Matthews, Francis Quinn;
Gary McDonnell, Shane O’Hagan,
P.O.McConville; Martin McPolin, Peter
Withnell; Plunkett McConville, Shane
Ward, Jason Brown; Conor Og O’Hagan,
John Fegan, Finbar McConville
Referee: Colm Broderick [Clann na Banna]
Man of the match: Shane Ward [Clonduff]
