Dungloe reserves fall to Aodh Ruadh heroics
DIVISION 1A RESERVE
Dungloe 1-09
Aodh Ruadh 2-11
Sean Perry reports.
The Aodh Ruadh reserves set the tone for what was to be a fruitful evening for the club in the Rosses on Saturday last by nailing their first points of the season on the board. With "travel sickness" a common trait of numerous Ballyshannon footballers, the Ballyshannon men headed for Dungloe with thirteen players and unearthed two more on the way down the road to make a full compliment of fifteen.
The ball had barely been thrown-in before the "Bullet" alias, David Hoey decided the auld "hammy" had taken enough and called for the line. Fortunately, Eoghan Ruadh O'Neill who had been on refereeing duty earlier in the day, answered his club's call and dashed in to man the edge of the square, the Dungloe square that is.
A Kerry Ryan goal early on gave Aodh Ruadh a precious cushion, further points from the evergreen David Downey (fist), Jack Travers and Steven Perry put the Ballyshannon side in control.
The experience of Brendan Boyle proved valuable in the second half as he surged forward while the Aodh Ruadh defence held together well. With Barry Travers acting as official advisor to the referee and Kerry Ryan surging forward, the Ballyshannon boys had enough in the tank.
The otherwise excellent Sean Perry missed two great goal chances to seal the game but to be fair to the Dungloe netminder, saves of the like haven't been made by a Rosses man since Packie Bonner in the World Cup! However, Stephen McGrath did eventually manage to hold onto one ball with six minutes remaining and directed it beautifully into the roof of the Dungloe net to secure the victory.
| Vital Statistics |
|---|
| Teams |
|
Aodh Ruadh Paul Kane; Brian Geithins, Padraig Barron, Simon Gillespie; Brian McGuinness, Barry Travers, Brendan Boyle; Kerry Ryan, Michael Lawless; Jack Travers, David Downey, Stephen McGrath; Steven Perry, David Hoey, Sean Perry. Subs Eoghan Ruadh O'Neill for Hoey (9 seconds), Anthony Boyle for Travers |
| Referee |
| John Joe O'Shea (Four Masters) |
Report Filed: 4 April 2005