Castleblayney 1-5 Rockcorry 0-13

Monaghan Electrical Reserve Football League Division 4, Round 3 – 7^th April 2010

“McGuirk Stars to Secure Win for Rock”.

Team: Jamie Smith, Cathal Sheridan, Rory Carroll, Pauric Reilly, Shane Wynne, Colin Reilly, Ryan Sharkey,  Martin Carroll, Liam Connolly, Keelan Clerkin, Colin Quinn 0-5, Anthony Tate, Declan McCullagh, Mark McGuirk 0-8 and Conor McGeough.

Subs: Josh Butler for Anthony Tate (injured) and Andrew Carroll for Declan McCullagh.

On Wednesday 7^th April we travelled to St. Mary’s Park, to play Castleblayney in the third round of the Reserve league and we had five points to spare as we recorded our first league win of the competition. Played in perfect weather conditions in front of a dozen supporters, mainly Rock, Castleblayney attacked first and had a goal opportunity within the first two minutes but their shot went just wide. Moments later they opened their account with a fine point from play in the 3^rd minute. As the game progressed our forwards were trying hard but unfortunately the shooting wasn’t that accurate with shots from Keelan Clerkin, Conor McGeough and Coiln Quinn all drifting wide. It wasn’t until the 10^th minute when Mark McGuirk collected the ball from Keelan Clerkin and he was brought down and he sent the resulting free kick over the bar to register our first score.

In the 17^th minute Colin Quinn showed great composure to slot over a fine point after good attacking play by the team. Castleblayney produced another goal opportunity in the 18^th minute, as our defence were caught napping but thankfully a terrific one-handed safe from Jamie Smith deflected the ball past the post for a ‘45’.

From the resulting ‘45’ the ball was collected by our defence and with a sweeping move down the field Keelan Clerkin sent a long guided pass to Mark McGuirk who sent the ball straight between the uprights. He repeated his scoring fete four minutes later when Anthony Tate collected a direct pass from Colin Quinn who off-loaded to Mark McGuirk and he made no mistake putting the bar over the bar to open up a 0-3 point lead.

Castleblayney hit back in the 26^th minute when they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the square when Colin Reilly committed a foul and they slotted the free over the bar. Two minutes later we were guilty again of some poor defending and Castleblayney took full advantage and tapped over a simple point from close range to reduce the deficit to a single point. We responded immediately when Mark McGuirk displayed some individual brilliance with a glorious strike after a measured pass in by Martin Carroll. Castleblayney were denied a goal opportunity in the 29^th minute when their attempt was stopped on the line by centre half back Colin Reilly who was in the right place at the right time. Colin Quinn completed the scoring in the 31^st minute when he collected a pass from Martin Carroll and fired the ball over the ball to leave the half time score Castleblayney 0-3 Rockcorry 0-6.

We started the second half well but two opening attempts one from Martin Carroll in the 2^nd minute and the other from Anthony Tate in the 5^th minute drifted wide. It took all of eight minutes before Keelan Clerkin found Mark McGuirk available who split the posts with a fine effort after good attacking play from Colin Reilly and Keelan Clerkin. Trailing by 0-4 points Castleblayney looked determined to get back into contention and in the 12^th minute they slotted over a fine point from play. Our defensive lines were finally breached in the 16^th minute when a cross-field pass found a player lurking on the edge of the square and he flicked the ball to the net to draw the team’s level 1-4 to 0-7.

The momentum was certainly with the home side but our lads never gave up as there is great team spirit and they wasted little time in getting back on track and scored three unanswered points in quick succession. The first, a fine strike from Mark McGuirk in the 18^th minute and he showed his qualities shortly after with another fine effort.  Mark was in the thick of the action again when he collected a long pass from Keelan Clerkin and he was pulled down on the 21m line and Colin Quinn tapped over the free kick to open up a 0-3 point lead. In the 22^nd minute another long ball was sent in by Liam Connolly who found Mark McGuirk and he ran towards the goal “soccer style” and his shot was saved by the Castleblayney goal-keeper and the rebound attempt by Andrew Carroll went just wide.

Castleblayney closed the deficit in the 23^rd minute with a point from a free kick and possibly should off gone ahead moments later but thankfully their shot at goals was just wide of the post.

Colin Quinn restored our 0-3 point lead in the 25^th minute with a fine individual score and he increased our lead shortly after when he put another one over the bar from a free kick after Andrew Carroll prevented the Castleblayney defenders from getting out easy!

With time ticking away Castleblayney needed one last throw of the dice and lobbed a long high ball into our goal mouth but Jamie Smith was up for the task and done very well to punch the ball away from the danger zone.  Entering injury time Mark McGuirk grabbed our final score of the game, when he curled over an excellent point from play, to secure a fine victory for the team and deservedly earn himself the man of the match performance as he contributed eight points in all with seven coming from play. The final score Castleblayney 1-5 Rockcorry 0-13.