St Eunan’s 1-9 Roslea 0-6
St Eunan's of Letterkenny, had an easy passage to the Ulster Club Championship semi- final against an out-of-sorts Roslea from Fermanagh.
The six-point winning margin doesn’t fully tell the story as St Eunan’s had the game won at half-time as they led by 1-5 to 0-0.
It took the Fermanagh champs almost 41 minutes to register their first score – and by that stage they had lost their full-back, Niall Cassidy, to a black card.
The Quigleys never had the effect which they normally have for Roslea Shamrocks, with St Eunan’s employing Micheal Martin and Sean Hensey to blot out the threat.
No mistake
The St Eunan’s goal came a minute from the interval, when John Haran was pulled back by Niall Cassidy and
Conall Dunne
made no mistake from the spot.
Dunne was really on form in the opening half, kicking all but one point of the St Eunan’s tally.
While Séamus Quigley finally got Roslea on the board at 41 minutes, they never really looked like threatening the locals, and their first score from play came from Dermot Reilly with six minutes left.
Conor Parke, Rory Carr, Conor Gibbons and Kevin Rafferty posted the St Eunan’s second-half scores.
“We are happy just to get into the next round and we do not have a great record in the Ulster championship,” said St Eunan’s sharpshooter Conall Dunne.
“This was a big day for us at home in O’Donnell Park and it has meant a lot to us,” he said. “Beating Roslea did not feel all that easy in the second half.
“But we were a bit surprised a bit by the way Roslea set up. It caught us on the hop a bit as they set up a bit more defensively than we had anticipated. But we just had to adapt to that.”
The Letterkenny side will now take on Tyrone champions Omagh St Enda’s in the semi-final in Celtic Park, Derry, on Sunday next.
ST EUNAN'S: S Patton; M Martin, S Hensey, C Ward; C Parke (0-1), E Doherty, C Morrison; K Rafferty (0-2), R Kavanagh; D Mulgrew, C Dunne (1-4, 1-0 pen, 2f), S McVeigh; C Gibbons (0-1), J Haran, R Carr (0-1). Subs: M McGowan for Morrison (39), C Morrison for Carr (49), K Sharkey for Haran (56), C O'Boyle for Martin (57), P McGowan for Gibbons (60).
ROSLEA SHAMROCKS: S Boyle; C Quigley, N Cassidy, M Beagan; C Mulligan, P Sherry, M Renfrew; J Sherry, K Cosgrove; J McMahon, P Lynch, Nl Cosgrove; S Lynch, Seamus Quigley (0-4, 3f), Sean Quigley (0-1, 1f). Subs: D Reilly (0-1) for Renfrew (30), S McMahon for Cassidy (33, black card), D Mohan for Cosgrove (47), R McCormack for Lynch (47), R McGuinness for Beagan (54).
Referee: Ronan Barry (Down).
