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Joy of six for reserves

Senior Reserve Football Division 3
5 May 2014
Aodh Ruadh 4-20
Buncrana 0-6
Scarvey

The Aodh Ruadh served up another awesome scoring display on Sunday afternoon in their perfect start to the season to make it six wins from six played. The travelling team brought a mixture of youth and experience to the Scarvey for the early throw in match, and needed to fill the vacancies left by O'Donnell and Matthews who were called up for senior duty. Ryan Granaghan slotted into midfield alongside David Finnerty, with Ciaran Slevin filling the centre back position in two key positional changes. Slevin was to go on to have an outstanding match and may just have found himself a new position after this performance. The match was played in perfect conditions, with a very light breeze offering some welcome relief from the early summer sun.

Buncrana started well and looked promising during the opening exchanges, and registered the first point of the game. It was to be the only time they would lead, as once Sticky Ward had put two free kicks on the board, the floodgates opened for the Ernesiders. Points followed from Slevin, Goan, Sheerin and Granaghan, along with four more from Sticky before the break. However, it was to be two goals midway during the first half which were to put the game beyond doubt by the break. The first came from Finnerty following a strong run through the centre before driving the ball past the keeper. The second came from Coughlin, who did well to collect a high ball in, before turning his man to hammer a shot past the keeper. The score at half time read 2-12 to 0-3 in favour of the visitors.

Aodh Ruadh continued their blitz on the Buncrana defence from the restart, outscoring the homeside by three points to one thanks to points from Granaghan and Sticky, before a long range effort from Sticky was misjudged by the keeper and sailed into the goal, stretching the lead to 3-15 to 0-4. The visitors had introduced the four outfield subs who travelled by the middle of the second half. Goan, who had just moved back to full back for the closing stages, was still full of running and added another point to his tally. The Buncrana heads were down and the gulf in class between the sides had taken its toll. Further scores were inevitable as the tide was only going one way. The next goal was to come from Val Murray who was not long on the pitch, with another long range effort which the goalkeeper will have nightmares over. Further points from Finnerty, James Kelly, Granaghan before the final score from Val Murray sealed the win in style at 4-20 to 0-6, The power of the forward unit was relentless, and can boast a scoring record of 27 goals from just six matches played.

In what was an excellent team performance, there were great individual displays right across the pitch, particularly from Ciaran Slevin at the back who was first to every ball, Darren Gethins who won a tremendous amount of ball from his half back position, Finnerty again was powerful in the middle, with Sticky Ward and Spanny Goan doing most of the damage up front. There'll be tougher tests to come on the road for the reserves, but for now there is a 100 percent record to preserve, with a trip to neighbours Naomh Bríd up next.

Vital Statistics
Teams
Aodh Ruadh
Daniel Kelly; David Dorrian, Ciaran Slevin, David McLoone; Chris McCabe, Darren Gettins, Stephen Bradley; David Finnerty (1-2) Ryan Granaghan (0-3); Michael 'Sticky' Ward (1-6), Anthony Coughlin (1-0), James Kelly (0-2); Christopher Goan (0-2), Dermot Slevin (0-3), Nicky Sheerin (0-1).
Substitutes: Jack Dolan for David McLoone, Val Murray (1-1) for Ciaran Slevin, Diarmad Keon for Nicky Sheerin, Raymie Granaghan for Anthony Coughlan, Paul Kane.

Last modified: Monday, 1 June 2020 at 1:11pm