ORAN ON THE BALL

AIB Connacht Club JFC semi-final

Oran (Roscommon) 1-12 Cloonacool (Sligo) 0-05

Seamus Duke 

Roscommon champions Oran produced an excellent display to sweep past Sligo opponents Cloonacool and into the Connacht club junior football final at Kiltoom last Sunday. Short man of the match Thomas Fetherston from the county final win because of a virus, the Oran men coped very well and they had victory in their grasp a long time before the final whistle.

  In fact Oran outscored their opponents by 1-6 to 0-1 in the second half, which was a measure of their dominance. Oran were very impressive

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AIB Connacht Club JFC semi-final

Oran (Roscommon) 1-12 Cloonacool (Sligo) 0-05

Seamus Duke 

Roscommon champions Oran produced an excellent display to sweep past Sligo opponents Cloonacool and into the Connacht club junior football final at Kiltoom last Sunday. Short man of the match Thomas Fetherston from the county final win because of a virus, the Oran men coped very well and they had victory in their grasp a long time before the final whistle.

  In fact Oran outscored their opponents by 1-6 to 0-1 in the second half, which was a measure of their dominance. Oran were very impressive in attack, particularly in that second period, and now they will take on Galway champions Ballinasloe in the final next Sunday.

  On a cold, crisp day, conditions in Kiltoom were perfect for football and Oran set about their task with considerable gusto and scored five points without reply in the first 14 minutes of play. Joe Cassidy with a 30-metre free opened the scoring in the 3rd minute and that score was followed by a Paul Kenny effort from play after 6 minutes, and an excellent point from 30 metres from Niall Mullen after 11 minutes.

  Further points from Eamon Kenny (a fisted effort) and a lovely score from play from Joe Cassidy from 25 metres saw the Roscommon champions five ahead at the end of the first quarter.

  Then Cloonacool had their best spell of the game, scoring three points without reply in a three-minute spell from the 21st minute. James Armstrong (free), Hughie Marren and James Lawrence from play reduced the margin to two by the 24th minute.

  The sides then swopped points before half-time with Mark Gunning (who had an excellent game) scoring a superb effort for Oran from 40 metres, and James Armstrong landing a 42-metre free in the 26th minute to leave the score at half-time at Oran 0-6 Cloonacool 0-4. Oran introduced Michael Gunning into their attack at the start of the second half and Eddie Egan’s men took over after that. Gunning kicked a wonderful point within 40 seconds. Cloonacool replied with a James Armstrong free in the 9th minute but that was to be their last score of the match.

  Michael Gunning kicked another lovely point from play a minute later and while we had to wait almost ten minutes for our next score, Oran were well on top. Joe Cassidy kicked a 25-metre free in the 50th minute and then Mark Gunning and Eamon Kenny (2) kicked three points in a three-minute spell by the 58th minute and it was game over.

  Oran set seal on an excellent display in the final minute when Michael Gunning played a wonderful pass into the path of Joe Cassidy who made no mistake with a well-taken goal.

  It was a very good display from Oran who will be hoping that Thomas Fetherston will be back in time to play in the final next Sunday although manager Eddie Egan told People Sport afterwards that he will be without Paddy McCormack, who is unavailable for the final.

 Oran can look back on this display with a lot of satisfaction and they will be looking forward to their final clash with Ballinasloe on Sunday.

Oran: Michael Monaghan; John Concannon, David McDermott, Kevin Concannon; Mark Gunning (0-2), Paddy McCormack, Michael Dwyer; Declan Leonard, Robert Varley; Niall Mullen (0-1), Eoin McGreevy, Eamon Kenny (0-3); Paul Kenny, Derek Harrington, Joe Cassidy (1-3, 2 frees).

Subs: Michael Gunning for Harrington, Cathal Kenny for McGreevy, Ivan Conneely for Paul Kenny, Colm Mee for Cassidy.

Cloonacool: Art McCarrick; Padraig Murtagh, Fergus Leonard, Paul Queenan; Kevin Gallagher, Neil Walsh, Paul Kilcoyne; Joseph Neary, Jason Brennan; Brian McIntyre, James Lawrence (0-1), Packie McIntyre; James Armstrong (0-3, frees), John McVann, Hughie Marren (0-1).

Subs: Billy Henry for Kilcoyne, Aiden Kilcoyne for P McIntyre.

Referee: J Molloy (Galway). 

Man of the Match:

Mark Gunning (Oran)

Most of the candidates for the man of the match award were on the Oran team. David McDermott, Eamon Kenny, Joe Cassidy and sub Michael Gunning were all excellent on the day while for Cloonacool, only James Armstrong and Hughie Marren looked a threat. Mark Gunning had a super game in the half-back line, scoring two great points. 

Eddie Egan (Oran manager)

“I felt that we could play a lot better in the second half and that’s what happened. It’s great to be in the final. It certainly was not on our agenda. We wanted to win the junior title in Roscommon and this is a huge bonus for us. 

  “We didn’t really know how the lads would react after the county final win but we played well today and we are representing Roscommon now in a Connacht final and we want to do well now that we are in it. 

  “It was not as easy a game as it seemed because we did not know what to expect but we stuck at it well and got some nice scores. We are in bonus territory now and looking forward to the final.” 

Roscommon People

Issue: 9th November 2012