Rockcorry 0-5 Doohamlet 0-7
McGuigan Builders Intermediate Football Championship Replay
Senior team to progress through the back door
Team: Jamie Smith, Colin Reilly, Damien Matthews, Garry Calvert, Keith Daly, Johnny Reilly, Stephen McGuirk 0-2, Barry Patterson, Niall McKeown, Noel Carroll 0-2, Liam Connolly, Martin Carroll, Mark McGuirk, Paul McKeown 0-1, Dwayne Rooney.
Subs: Keelan Clerkin for Martin Carroll, Anthony Tate for Liam Connolly, Colin Quinn for Paul McKeown.
Our quest to progress to the next round of the McGuigan Builders intermediate football championship smashed into a wall of blue as our senior team hit the self-destruct button against Doohamlet as we contributed considerably to our own downfall and lost on a score-line Rockcorry 0-5 Doohamlet 0-7. After match discussions deemed the weather conditions to have been a paramount reason for the defeat but in my book it’s not a factor. Wet conditions certainly placed extra demands on players on the evening but both sides had to contend with wet and slippery conditions and the game was there for the taking and at the end of the day it was a cuter and cunning Doohamlet side that emerged with a crucial two point victory to progress to the next round of the championship.
The game was played at St. Mary’s Park, Castleblayney on Thursday 19th August and we lined out without the services of Mark Daly which saw a midfield pairing of Niall McKeown and Barry Patterson with Paul McKeown returning at full forward. While Doohamlet had the advantage of the elements in the first half, Noel Carroll got the ball rolling with a well taken point from the right wing after barely two minutes of play. Doohamlet equalised in the 5th minute after we carelessly gave away possession and the corner forward raced through and his fisted effort split the posts. Doohamlet took the lead, a couple of minutes later, when they converted a free-kick after Damien Matthews fouled his opponent. A minute later Mark McGuirk was brought down and his older brother Stephen stepped up and curled over the free-kick to draw the sides level again. Doohamlet enjoyed a good spell but were guilty of kicking a series of wides in the 9th 10th and 11th minutes and when Johnny Reilly was brought down around the midfield area Stephen McGuirk delivered a lovely pass into Paul McKeown who made a surging solo run down the left wing, cut inside his marker and fired over a lovely point to put us ahead 0-3 to 0-2. In the 13th minute Doohamlet were awarded a penalty when Jamie Smith fouled his opponent and the resulting spot kick was put over the bar. We were awarded a forty-five in the 14th minute but Noel Carroll’s effort drifted to the right but Mark McGuirk was able to kept the ball in play and after a goal mouth scramble we got another forty-five which Dwayne Rooney played a one-two with Noel Carroll but his attempt at the uprights was off target.
Powerful defending by Garry Calvert broke down a Doohamlet attack in the 17th minute but we were guilty of losing possession in our forward line and Doohamlet launched a counter-attack that yielded a score to stretch their lead to two points 0-3 to 0-5. Doohamlet kicked wide in the 20th minute before Noel Carroll got his second of the evening when he scored a sweet point following good approach play that included Stephen McGuirk, Martin Carroll and Paul McKoewn. Paul McKeown was fouled in the 24th minute but Dwayne Rooney’s free-kick effort drifted wide. Doohamlet kicked another wide in the 26th minute and when Johnny Reilly fouled Colin Walshe they extended their lead to two points to leave the score at the break Rockcorry 0-4 Doohamlet 0-6.
Regarding the second half I just don’t know where you would begin with this!!! With the wind advantage now on our backs one would off thought that we would take control of the game but nothing could be further from the truth, as our second half performance was extremely disappointing with just a single point from a Stephen McGuirk free-kick in the 5th minute being our only return. Without being too harsh on anybody, this was a dire and sluggish thirty minutes display from the team. While we had ample opportunities to get something from the game we were unable to convert possession into scores. We were over-reliant on passing by hand and time and time again we either gave possession away through bad passing or our passes were intercepted. The creativity and inventiveness or should I say, the lack of creativity and inventiveness was most disappointing from both on and off the field. We simply malfunctioned in a similar way the Monaghan team did against Tyrone! When we reached the final third we looked disjointed, we looked very predictable and at times we looked liked a rabbit caught in the head lights, not knowing what to do!
Unfortunately, the game will be remembered for the high percentage of mistakes, careless passing, indecision and ball handling errors but strange as it may seem the match remained interesting not for the quality of football on display but because of the closeness of the score! If it was not for the efforts of our full back line of Colin Reilly, Damien Matthews and Garry Calvert who worked tirelessly and restricted Doohamlet from running away with the game the result may have been a lot worst. However, despite our poor performance we are still in the championship as we now progress through the ‘back door’ but I imagine that moving forward we will be eager to ensure that more of our quality football is reflected on the scoreboard and we will have to up our performance if we are to progress in the championship campaign. Scoring a mere point from a free-kick during the second half is a worrying statistic for the team and much improvement is needed from everyone involved.
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