Donaghmoyne 2-16 Rockcorry 0-9

Streamline Coaches Intermediate Football League, Round 10 – Saturday 19th June

Goals decisive as Donaghmoyne overcome Rockcorry

Team: Jamie Smith, Colin Reilly, Niall McKeown 0-1, Garry Calvert, Stephen McGuirk 0-1, Johnny Reilly, Keith Daly, Mark Daly 0-2, Liam Connolly, Keelan Clerkin, Martin Carroll, Noel Carroll 0-3, Dwayne Rooney, Paul McKeown and Mark McGuirk 0-1.

Subs: Pauric Reilly for Keith Daly, Anthony Tate for Keelan Clerkin, Eoin Fitzpatrick for Dwayne Rooney, Colin Quinn 0-1 for Martin Carroll.

Well, we’ve seen a lot of good things from our senior team to date but last Saturday evening against Donaghmoyne we produced a very lacklustre performance as Donaghmoyne showed a lot more hunger and a greater appetite right from the throw-in, and gave us a healthy dose of reality when they dished out a comprehensive hammering. Maybe it was the nice weather that had the players thinking about other things or maybe the players weren’t focused enough but whatever it was, it was clear from an early stage that the hunger and desire that was so evident in our performance against Currin the previous weekend was sadly missing. There is no dispute, Donaghmoyne were superb, they were the better side in every facet of the game where everything went right for them and where nothing went right for us and as a result we suffered one of our heaviest defeats in recent memory on a score-line Donaghmoyne 2-16 Rockcorry 0-9.

We had the first opportunity to register on the scoreboard but Liam Connolly’s effort, after forty-five seconds, drifted slightly wide. Two minutes later Donaghmoyne adopted route one football when they launched a long delivery into their full forward which he collected and scored a fine point. A minute later, Mark Daly was fouled and Stephen McGuirk converted the free-kick to draw the sides all square. Donaghmoyne responded immediately as they once again delivered a long ball into their right corner forward and he turned inside and fired over a neat point to go one up. The old maxim that goals win matches was very much in evidence as Donaghmoyne registered their first goal in the 6^th minute. Despite a promising attack involving Dwayne Rooney and Keelan Clerkin it was unfortunately broken down by a strong Donaghmoyne defence and they broke at pace and were awarded a sideline ball, approximately on the thirteen metre line on the left side of the field, which they lobbed into our danger zone and it was not properly cleared and the kick by the Donaghmoyne player, who was probably going for a point, surprised our keeper Jamie Smith as it landed over his head and into the net to open up a four point lead 1-2 to 0-1.

A couple of minutes later Noel Carroll fouled his opponent approximately thirty metres out and it was brought up for dissent but lucky enough the Donaghmoyne free-taker kicked it wide. In the 9^th minute, Dwayne Rooney collected a pass from Keith Daly and was hauled down but Mark Daly uncharacteristically kicked the resulting free wide.  Donaghmoyne kicked a wide in the 11^th minute before Noel Carroll scored a fabulous long range point to close the gap. A minute later, Mark Daly was fouled and his free kick attempt landed short and the goalie palmed it out for a forty-five. The subsequent forty-five was taken by Mark McGuirk but his effort landed short and the ball was eventually cleared.

Niall McKeown produced some outstanding defensive work to thwart a possible Donaghmoyne scoring opportunity, in the 15^th minute, but our inability to keep possession proved once again to be our ‘Achilles heel’ as they capitalised on our mistake and notched over a point from play. Noel Carroll won the ensuing kick-out and he made one of his trademark solo runs and when Mark McGuirk collected a pass he slotted over a terrific point to leave the score 1-3 to 0-3. In the 18^th minute, an attempt by Mark Daly landed short and into the keeper’s hands and Donaghmoyne worked the ball up field and registered another score from play with relative ease!

Paul McKeown was fouled, in the 20^th minute, but unfortunately Mark Daly’s free-kick drifted to the right and wide. As we were striving to get back into the game we were dealt a major blow in the 21^st minute as Paul McKeown was bundled out of possession and Donaghmoyne once again worked the ball up the field with virtually no resistance and scored their second goal to open up a seven point lead 2-4 to 0-3. Shortly afterwards, Mark McGuirk was fouled but Stehpen’s effort at the uprights went wide. Donaghmoyne increased their advantage in the 26^th minute when they converted a free kick after Keelan Clerkin brought down his opponent and an effort by Liam Connolly in the 30^th minute was well off target to leave the score at the break Donaghmoyne 2-5 Rockcorry 0-3.

 The second half was just a minute old when Noel Carroll opened the scoring with another excellent long range point and Mark Daly had an opportunity to reduce the deficit further but his free-kick effort was off target. In the 6^th minute, Martin Carroll halted a Donaghmoyne attack and setup Johnny Reilly who found Noel Carroll and he fired over another terrific point to leave the score 2-5 to 0-5. However, Donaghmoyne hit back a minute later when they scored another point from play and we wasted opportunities in the 9^th and 10^th minute, kicking wide on both occasion, from the boots of Noel Carroll and Mark Daly before Donaghmoyne converted a free kick to increase their lead 2-7 0-5.

Niall McKeown was now deployed to the midfield area and in the 12 minute he made a surging solo run up the field and scored a great point. Stephen McGuirk converted a free-kick in the 15^th minute to keep our faint hopes alive but the two goals remained the difference 2-7 to 0-7. Paul McKeown kicked wide in the 16^th minute before Donaghmoyne slotted over a fine point from play. While Mark Daly hit a fine point a couple of minutes later we needed goals to make any significant inroads but unfortunately our dreams of a sensational comeback evaporated as Donaghmoyne seized the initiative and the final ten minutes it was all Donaghmoyne as they upped the ante to heap further misery on us by scoring seven points without reply to open up a twelve point lead 2-14 to 0-8. At this stage our lads looked shell shocked and no doubt would off greeted the final whistle with relief but there was still some time left. Substitute Colin Quinn, who came on for Martin Carroll, added a consolation point in the 28^th minute but Donaghmoyne continued to press on, as they were hungry for more scores, and they notched over their final point in the 30^th minute, to seal a convincing win on a score-line Donaghmoyne 2-16 Rockcorry 0-9.

The after match analysis many people said that “we can’t take much from this display and it’s a matter of putting it down to a bad day at the office”. Yes, I do agree that it was a bad day at the office but the biggest mistake would be to walk away from this and not learn anything from this game. This was a massive test of our progress and performance to date and we failed miserably. For some reason too many of our players were flat footed and there was no pep in our steps as we found the going tough in the heat of battle and in truth they (Donaghmoyne) looked the better balanced side and were full value for a fairly emphatic victory.  I know conceding the two goals certainly didn’t help matters but every aspect of our play including some loose marking, our failure to compete at midfield, not winning any breaking ball, missing too many scoreable frees, over carrying and our inability to react to our opponents tactics all resulted in us quite frankly not being at the races.  It’s true what they say, in sport you have to take the bad with the good and in fairness we have not had too many bad days this year. Let’s hope the lads can bounce back and be prepared for the next one.