February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Mike FitzpatrickRockland 4-18, Mayo 1-7
Rockland, the young Connecticut club that has caused havoc in this their first year as a senior football club, came up against a Mayo side that had started the season in fine fettle. Since those early days back in April and May, however, the Connaught side have had a few turnarounds, resulting in their slipping behind the leaders in Division 2.
Rockland, meanwhile, have had a fabulous run so far. Having won five of six games played to date, they lagged only behind Offaly in the table. After Sunday, however, with this convincing victory at Gaelic Park, they stand atop the division, and will face off versus their Offaly counterparts in the Division 2 playoff final.
Mayo’s early-season form had long faded before this game, and with the vanishing of their form, so did their hopes of making the playoffs. It was obvious from this game, though, that the Mayo men had little to play for, however little of the blame lying on their shoulders.
A rampant Rockland side charged forward from the first whistle. With the experienced heads of Leo Turley, Dave Fitzgerald and Mike Joe Hennessy plowing forward, battering the young Mayo backline, the scores soon began racking up. Alongside half forward Mike Fitzpatrick, who’s been having a most profitable season in front of goal, the Rockland front line moved into an exceedingly healthy halftime lead. Scores from Mayo’s Paddy Reddington, Kevin Tuohy and Eamon McEvoy restored a little pride in the green and red of Mayo, but after the break it was back to more of the same from Rockland. Fitzpatrick rounded off his tally with another couple of points to make it a personal catch of five, and Paul Rowley grabbed a couple of points to add to his earlier goal.
Emmet Woods, the Rockland manager, will no doubt be happy with his side’s ruthless performance in attacking the opposition throughout. But there’s still quite a way to go to see whether they can make it to the top division, and a final match up with Offaly stands in their way.
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Offaly, the side with an identical record to the Connecticut men, will certainly be out to spoil the party for Rockland. It’s all to play for.
Rockland: Jimmy Dwyer, Shay Forbes, Tom O’Riordan (0-1), Jimmy O’Flynn, Tommy Acton, Ken Mortimer, Sean Roche, Paddy Corcoran, Tom McHugh, Dave Fitzgerald (0-4), Mike Fitzpatrick (0-5), Mike Joe Hennessy (0-1), Paul Rowley (1-2), Leo Turley (2-1), Damien O’Brien (0-4). Subs: Gerry O’Riordan (1-0), Dermot Yorke, John Fitzpatrick.
Mayo: Gary Staunton, Denis Curtin, Pearse O’Reilly, Mike Reddington, Dave Coleman, Paddy Reddington (1-0), Tom Gallagher, Anthony McDermott, Tom Maher, Kevin Tuohy (0-2), Mickey McGahon, Eamon McEvoy (0-2), John Brown (0-2), Kevin Maloney, Ollie Flynn (0-1).