Rockcorry 0-12 Doohamlet 0-12

Streamline Coaches Intermediate Football League, Round 11 – Friday 2nd July

Rock rediscover fighting spirit to earn a share of the spoils

Team: Jamie Smith, Colin Reilly, Damien Matthews, Garry Calvert, Niall McKeown, Johnny Reilly, Stephen McGuirk 0-3, Noel Carroll, Mark Daly 0-6, Keelan Clerkin,  Liam Connolly, Martin Carroll, Mark McGuirk 0-1, Paul McKeown, Dwayne Rooney 0-1.

Subs: Keith Daly for Martin Carroll, Anthony Tate 0-1 for Keelan Clerkin.

Having suffered a heavy defeat to Donaghmoyne in the previous league game we set out to recover some lost ground against Doohamlet on Friday 2^nd July. Earlier in the year, Doohamlet beat us narrowly and with both teams scheduled to meet each other again in the first round of the intermediate championship this was an eagerly awaited clash. Now for once the scoreboard Rockcorry 0-12 Doohamlet 0-12 does tell the storey as from the outset this encounter was a ding-dong battle as both sides were evenly matched and cancelled each other out as neither team really dominated.

The game was played in ideal conditions, under blue skies and bright sunshine, before a fairly large attendance and it was Doohamlet who started much the brighter as they dominated the opening exchanges and registered their first score after only twenty seconds of play when they notched over a fine point from play. A poor pass out off defence by Noel Carroll, (he should’ve went to specsavers!) in the 3^rd minute, allowed Doohamlet to fire over their second point. Paul McKeown kicked wide in the 3^rd minute and when Noel Carroll was brought down in the 5^th minute Mark Daly took the resulting free, which in fairness was probably more suited for a left footed player and he kicked it wide. Doohamlet kicked wide in the 7^th minute but they won the ensuing kick-out and made a penetrating run through our defence that yielded a fisted point to stretch their lead to three points.

After a slow start we eventually opened our account in the 10^th minute after a superb solo run by Noel Carroll through the heart of the Doohamlet defence and he off-loaded to Mark Daly who delivered a pass into Dwayne Rooney who sailed over a terrific point from the left wing. A minute later Mark McGuirk showed pure class after he collected a pass from Noel Carroll and scored a wonderful point, that was eventually awarded after some confusion as to its validity between the two umpires! In the 12^th minute, Mark Daly kicked over our third point to bring the sides all square with 0-3 apiece.

However, Doohamlet’s response was immediate as they hit a mini ‘purple patch’ to put some daylight between the sides, once again, as they notched over three quick points in the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th minute to restore a three point gap. In the 16^th minute, Mark Daly was unlucky to see his free-kick effort come back of the cross bar after Paul McKeown was fouled, and the ball was cleared but our forwards showed great intensity and forced the Doohamlet defender to over carry which allowed Stephen McGuirk to curl over a lovely free kick to close the deficit back to two points. Mark Daly won the ensuing kick-out and he delivered a pass into Paul McKeown who was hauled down and Mark tapped over the free-kick to make it a one point game. In the 20^th minute a Doohamlet player was penalised for over carrying the ball and Noel Carroll took a quick free to Colin Reilly and he sent the ball forward to Mark McGuirk, who tuned inside his marker, but on this occasion his attempt drifted slightly wide and a minute later Mark was in the action again but unfortunately his attempt at the uprights was off target.

Colin Reilly fouled his opponent in the 23^rd minute that allowed Doohamlet to restore a two point lead. Mark Daly won possession from the kick-out and off-loaded to Niall McKeown who made a marvellous surge forward that resulted in a free which Mark Daly tapped over the bar from close range to reduce the gap back to a single point. Doohamlet kicked wide in the 25^th minute and when Mark Daly broke through the Doohamlet defence, in the 28^th minute, he was clean through on goals but the referee Sean Ward did not allow advantage and called back play for an earlier foul which Mark converted to bring the sides all square again 0-7 apiece. A minute later, we took the lead for the first and only time of the game after Mark Daly was fouled and he converted the free kick himself. However, Doohamlet had the last say of the first half as they notched over a point a minute into injury time to leave the half time score Rockcorry 0-8 Doohamlet 0-8.

The restart saw Noel Carroll revert to a more accustomed half forward role with Niall McKeown moving into the midfield area and the second half started similar to the first with Doohamlet getting out of the traps in lightning pace and hit three points in quick succession. They notched over their first from play within a minute of the throw-in and they failed to capitalise on their possession as they missed two chances to extend their lead kicking wide in the 3^rd and 5^th minute. However, they did manage to register a score in the 6^th minute following a poor kick-out by Jamie Smith and when they fired over a long range point in the 7^th minute they restored a three point advantage. Scrappy play dominated the ensuing exchanges and it was not until the 12^th minute that Niall McKeown made a surging solo run and was hauled down and Stephen McGuirk steadied the ship when he converted the free-kick to close the gap back to two points. A couple of minutes later Stephen McGuirk added a further point following a foul on Paul McKeown to keep us in touching distance.

Our resilient defence, superbly marshalled by Damien Matthews, Garry Calvert and Johnny Reilly thwarted a Doohamlet attack in the 16^th minute but we had a narrow escape two minutes later  when Doohamlet came within inches of scoring a goal after a goalmouth scramble but the vigilance of Damien Matthews and Colin Reilly we were able to clear the ball away. Having escaped that episode without conceding we broke downfield in search of an equalising point but Paul McKeown’s effort from twenty metres fell short and into the hands of the goalie. Doohamlet attacked in the 20^th minute, but their effort fell short and was collected by Jamie Smith who cleared the danger but once again we carelessly gave the ball away but Colin Reilly showed great initiative and made a fine interception to win back possession and clear his defence. In the 22^nd minute, Niall McKeown showed great agility, power and pace before being fouled and Mark Daly showed great conviction and bottle to calmly and accurately convert the free to leave the sides all square with 0-11 apiece.

The contest was now very much in the preverbal ‘melting pot’ as it was still anyone’s game and a  crucial moment arrived two minutes later when a Doohamlet player was given his marching orders for an off the ball challenge on Johnny Reilly. However, despite being down to fourteen players, they regained their composure and squeezed in front, in the 27^th minute, after they delivered a high ball into our danger area and Damien Matthews was harshly penalised when he was adjudged to foul his opponent and they duly converted the free-kick. At this stage the tension was almost unbearable and the pressure was on us to get an equaliser, with time ticking away behind by a single point but with a numerical advantage our destiny was in our own hands and while we mounted a number of attacks we were unable to penetrate the Doohamlet defence as too often our over elaboration and our fascination of running into cul-de-sacs backfired.  

For once lady luck was very much on our side as we were very fortunate, in the 29^th minute, when Doohamlet launched another high ball into our danger area which was not properly dealt with and the ball was allowed to bounce in the square but it fell invitingly for Jamie Smith and he was able to clear his line. Thankfully, our persistence was finally rewarded with a splendid move down the field that started with Johnny Reilly who, was most impressive in the centre half back role, made a burst forward and he off-loaded to Mark Daly who found Dwayne Rooney and he delivered a pass into the unmarked Anthony Tate and from an acute angle he fired over a point, to draw the sides level and the roar from the media box nearly lifted the roof!   With the game now deep into injury time we looked like we might just dig out a victory as Noel Carroll surged forward and he was hauled down but to everyone’s astonishment no free was given and play was allowed to continue and seconds later the final whistle sounded to leave the scoreboard reading Rockcorry 0-12 Doohamlet 0-12.

On reflection, our team management will be a lot happier with this performance as it was certainly an improvement from that witnessed against Donaghmoyne as the players showed more determination and focus and battled the whole way through and fair play to them for standing up and being counted when it was needed as they could have folded very easily towards the end but they rediscovered their fighting spirit to earn a share of the spoils. However, despite having plenty of possession far too often we needlessly gave the ball away and the amount of misplaced passes, unforced errors, indecision at vital times and wasted chances to score will no doubt leave our team management with more questions than answers! There is still a lot of work to do and improvements will be necessary before we meet Doohamlet again in the first round of the intermediate championship.