5 YEARS AGO
Gallant St Croan’s fought to end against classy Kerry side
AIB All-Ireland IFC Club Final: Ardfert (Kerry) 1-14 St Croan’s (Roscommon) 0-9
St Croan’s dreams of All-Ireland glory were dashed by a very impressive Ardfert side in this entertaining and well-contested All-Ireland intermediate club final played in perfect weather conditions in Croke Park on Saturday evening last.
Croan’s were heroic to the final whistle but when they reflect on the game this week they will realise that they could have no complaints and were beaten by a better team on the day.
There was great hope after the opening 10 minutes when St Croan’s more than matched their opponents, but once Shane Smyth was denied what looked like a certain penalty in the 12th minute, the wind seemed to go out of the sails of the Roscommon men and Ardfert marched on to establish a winning position for themselves.
Croan’s did come with a late burst of scoring but the game was over as a contest by the end of the third quarter.
(From 20 February 2015)
Johnny Kiernan scores ‘greatest ever goal in league’
Roscommon & District League Premier Division leaders Ballinasloe Town were beaten 2-1 at home by Castlerea Celtic. The home side were on top in the first half but failed to score. With fifteen minutes played in the second half Darragh Concannon converted a free-kick to give Ballinasloe Town the advantage.
The lead only lasted for seven minutes before Ronan Curran replied for Castlerea with a left-footed volley. For the remainder of the game Castlerea Celtic were the better side and Shane Heneghan scored their winner following a free-kick.
Ballaghaderreen are the new leaders after a 5-1 win over bottom side Fohenagh. Cloonfad United and Dysart drew 3-3 at Cloonfad United. This game will forever be remembered by the people present for the best-ever goal scored in the Roscommon & District League, if not in the country.
The Dysart player Johnny Kiernan was the player who scored the goal. With his back to goal he flicked the ball over his own head and his marker, before volleying to the Cloonfad net.
(From 20 February 2015)
Mark’s maestros win a Connacht classic
Eirgrid Connacht U-21 FC Final: Roscommon 3-14 Galway 3-11
The statistics will show that Roscommon won their 9th Connacht title at this grade after beating Galway in Tuam last Saturday night. Indeed a fourth provincial title at this grade in six years is a tremendous achievement, but long after the scoreline is forgotten the memory of this game will live on for those of us who were lucky enough to be there to see one of the finest exhibitions of Gaelic Football seen at this or any other grade for many years past. Put simply, this was spellbinding entertainment.
The soothsayers who have been signalling the end of the game of Gaelic Football in recent weeks forgot to tell these two wonderful teams who provided the spectators with a breathtaking spectacle of scintillating football, supreme skill, huge will to win and desire, bravery, incredible tension and crackling excitement from the first whistle to the last. When football is played like this there is truly no other game to touch it. What a pity it doesn’t happen often enough.
At the end of it all Roscommon deservedly emerged victorious. But they were tested to the limit by a superb Galway team who came to Tuam to continue their good record against The Rossies at this grade. But at the end of the day Roscommon had the firepower to get them over the line.
Roscommon: Shane Mannion; Niall McInerney, Sean Mullooly, Denis Barron; Conor Hussey, Cathal Kenny, Ronan Daly; Cathal Compton (1-0), Tadhg O’Rourke; Shane Killoran (0-2), Ultan Harney (0-3), Jack Earley (0-1); Diarmuid Murtagh (1-7, 6 frees), Enda Smith, Paul Kenny (1-0). Subs: Evan McGrath for Hussey (25), Kieran Kilcline (0-1) for Killoran (36), Noel Gately for Earley (41), Kevin Finn for Harney (50), Thomas Corcoran for O’Rourke (54), Diarmuid McGann for P Kenny (58).
(From 10 April 2015)
10 YEARS AGO
‘Old enemy’ win but plenty of positives for Roscommon
FBD Connacht League: Mayo 1-9 Roscommon 0-8
This four-point defeat at Ballinlough ended any lingering hopes that Roscommon had of reaching the FBD league final this year, but there were plenty of positives for the team management and fans to take from this display as they prepare for the national league campaign which starts against Cavan in Hyde Park on Sunday next.
Roscommon looked very solid at the back where Michael Kilillea and Ian Kilbride played very well at full-back and centre half-back respectively. Stephen Ormsby and Niall Carty also played very well in defence, as did goalkeeper Geoffrey Claffey (as usual). Mark O’Carroll worked very hard at midfield alongside Michael Finneran.
Up front Roscommon were less than impressive and are struggling to score, given the possession that they are getting in recent games. Enda Kenny was the pick of the attack and sub Kevin Higgins also did well…
However, it must be remembered that there are a number of players that will be back in contention for the game against Cavan, including Donie Shine, Peter Domican, Cathal Cregg and David O’Gara, while Senan Kilbride and Karol Mannion are still on the injured list.
(From 5 February 2010)
12 YEARS AGO
The other Enda Kenny outpolls his Roscommon colleagues!
FBD League: Sligo IT 1-15 Roscommon 0-13
John Maughan’s Roscommon team made a losing start to 2008 when they went down by five points to a lively Sligo IT outfit (who are the defending champions) in this opening round FBD League game played in bitterly cold weather conditions at Ballinode last Sunday.
Despite the defeat there is nothing to be too alarmed about for the blue and gold supporters because of the huge amount of Roscommon players that were on duty for Third Level colleges in the various competitions, not alone in Connacht but also in Leinster and other provinces.
Last week we alluded to at least 15 players on the Roscommon panel who would not be available to play for John Maughan in the FBD League and when you add in the fact that Seamus O’Neill, Frankie Dolan and Paddy O’Connor all had to cry off the Roscommon panel for this game because of sickness or flu, it wasn’t a bad effort from those who did play.
The Roscommon full-back line looked porous throughout, which is a worry – however the good news is that the man who did most damage for Sligo IT was Castlerea St. Kevin’s’ own Enda Kenny, who was the best player on view and who laid down a marker to the selectors. Doing well for Roscommon were David Hoey, who had a great game at centre half-back, Martin Reynolds of St. Faithleach’s, who made some very good catches in the middle of the field on his debut, Mark O’Carroll, who came on as sub and played well, and Conor Devanney, who kicked a couple of fine points.
Roscommon: Mark Miley; Stephen Ormsby, Anthony McDermott, Robbie Kelly; John Tiernan (0-1), David Hoey, Richard Dooner; Michael Finneran, Martin Reynolds; David O’ Gara, Karol Mannion (0-3), Ross Nolan; Conor Devanney (0-3, 1 free), Senan Kilbride, Johnny Dunning (0-3, 1 free). Subs: Mark O’Carroll for Nolan, John Collins (0-3, all frees) for O’Gara, John Rogers for Ormsby.
(From 11 January 2008)
