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NY GAA: St Rays shake Roscommon down

February 17, 2011

By Staff Reporter

St. Raymonds shook the Roscommon twines four times as they advanced to a semi-final showdown with Armagh.
The Saint’s first three pointer came with Roscommn leading 0-2 to 0-1 with 11 minutes gone. Center forward Cyril Donnellan’s long pass found Mike Creegan and Creegan fed Colm Kilroy. Kilroy finished well and Ray’s had the lead.
Roscommon responded well with three points on the trot, two from Ed Cleary frees and another from Aiden Smith. Hard charging wingback John Brennan was key for Roscommon playing strong defense and sparking the attack.
Then with Roscommon leading 0-6 to 1-2, Rays struck for back-to-back goals. First Ray’s sub Geriod O’Driscoll found Niall Callinane with a clever pass and suddenly the Saints were back in front.
Just seconds later Mike Creegan pounced on rebound and the Roscommon net was shaking yet again. Roscommon were in trouble but were granted a reprieve when Enda Kenny was awarded a penalty amid shouts of “Dive! Dive!” Kenny took his chance well and Roscommon were back in the game.
Roscommon came roaring back at the Saints after the restart with points from Cleary, free, Kieran Keaveney, and sub Ken Cox against a lone St. Raymond’s point from a CJ Doherty free.
Roscommon pulled within 0-2 when Kenny, earned, and converted his second penalty. Now St. Ray’s were on the ropes and they responded in style, scoring the next 1-3 before Roscommon added a late point.
The final nail in the Ross’ coffin was Kilroy’s second goal coming when John O’Donoghue’s pass found him inexplicably wide open in front of the Roscommon goal. Now St. Ray’s go on to the semi-final against Armagh hoping no doubt that they have a few more goals left in the tank.
Man of the Match: Colm Kilroy.
St. Raymond’s: Ryan Sullivan, Tom Hoey, Marty Meehan, Kieran McKenna, James Huvane, Mark Comerford, Shay Furlong, Gary Dowd, CJ Doherty (0-4, all fr), Niall Callanane (1-0), Cyril Donnellan, Colm Kilroy (2-1), Mike Creegan (1-1), John Donoghue, John Driscoll Sub: Geriod O’Driscoll (0-1).
Roscommon: John Stack, Mark Killian, Darren Healy, Finian Travers, Andy O’Connor, Mike Ryan, John Brennan, Sean Carney, Danny O’Sullivan, Dean O’Reilly, Kieran Keaveney (0-3, 1 fr), Ronan Coyne, Ed Cleary (0-4, all fr), Enda Kenny (2-1, 2 penos), Aiden Smith (0-1) Sub: Ken Cox (0-1), Owen Cummins.
Referee: Phil Sheridan.

St. Barnabas 1-9 Kerry 0-9

Barnabas barely scrape by

St. Barnabas scraped past Kerry in their first of four JFA quarter-finals Sunday at Gaelic Park. The Saints never really hit the form that saw them top the polls in their division and were it not for a very fortunate goal this result might have been different.
The Saint’s went up early with points from wingback Brian Kelly and one from a Ronan Garvey free. This weakened Kerry side were missing several starters and that coupled with some poor free taking hurt them early.
An excellent point from midfielder Darian Horan finally got the Kingdom on the scoreboard after 12 minutes. Horan’s point sparked a period of Kerry dominance and it was the 2004 Limerick panelist and his midfield partner Gary Kelly that were leading the way. Kerry were also frustrating the Saint’s with some good hard-nosed defense.
Better finishing both from play and frees could have seen Kerry to a bigger lead, instead their wastefulness let St. Barnabas off the hook. Kerry had edged out to a 0-5 to 0-3 lead when disaster struck. Ronan Garvey launched a hopeful shot from 50 yards away only to see the Kerry keeper let it slip through his fingers and into the goal.
That bit of good fortune gave St. Barnabas a 1-3 to 0-5 lead despite having been badly outplayed for most of the half. Kerry pulled one back when Mike McKenna faked his marker to the turf before pointing, so the half time score stood 1-4 to 0-6 at the break.
The introduction of Gary Rocks from the deep Barnabas bench turned out to be the difference in the second half. Rocks chipped in 0-3 from frees in the second half that lacked even one score from play.
A long Dave Garvey free and a 50 from the same player sandwiched Rocks tally and Kerry could only respond with two frees pointed from Darren Halpin and another from Colm Cromin as Barnabas escaped with the win.
Kerry will rue their missed chance while Barnabas may take comfort in knowing that they are unlikely to play as poorly again. If they do, semi-final opponent Astoria will likely make them pay.
Man of the Match: Dave Garvey.
St. Barnabas: Barry Lynch, Brian Montgomery, Pat Lyons, Andrew Donoghue, Pat Flynn, Ed Greenan, Brian Kelly (0-1), Ronan Garvey (1-3, 1 fr), Dave Garvey (0-2, 1-50,1 fr), Terrence Flynn, Jack Ferritter, Tom McGovern, Jonathan Garvey, Darren Meaney, Sean Carbin, Subs: Paddy Reddington, Ciaran Moyles, Gary Rocks (0-3, all fr).
Kerry: Eoghan Loughlin, Tom Crowley, Paul Dillon, John Riordan, Kevin O’Connor (0-1, fr), Ciaran Granfield, Gary Kelly, Darren Horan (0-1), Liam McDonald, Darren Halpin (0-4, 3 fr), Paudie Mulvihill (0-1), Mike McKenna (0-2), Mike Carmody, Louis Holland Sub: Kieran O’Shea.
Referee: Tom Fahey.

Armagh 1-13 Stamford 0-7
Senior Football Div. A Quarter-final

Armagh wakes up

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The Armagh team that New York Gaels have been expecting all year finally showed up and easily brushed aside disappointing Stamford.
Stamford were on the board first with a long range point from Justin O’Halloran. Unfortunately for Stamford that was about it for their highlight reel.
Armagh’s first two points came from their dynamic two man full forward line, one each from Noel McPartland and Garreth Kelly. Armagh opted to play John Mason, their nominal corner forward, in a third midfield, fourth halfback role, and the move worked a charm.
Kelly and McPartland were constant thorns in Stamford’s side and McPartland was particularly impressive. His outstanding goal late in the first half ended the match as a contest and reminded spectators that just a couple of seasons ago McPartland was good enough to earn the number 11 jersey for New York.
Stamford pulled within 1-8 to 0-6 with a three point burst to open the second half, but Armagh never panicked and won going away. The Orchard County performance was the best on the day and good enough to establish Armagh as favorites in this division, if they can maintain this form.
St. Raymond’s await in the semi-finals and on this performance the Saints will know to bring their A game.
Man of the Match: Noel McPartland.
Armagh: Dermot O’Sullivan, Lee Kelly, Francie Sheridan, Peter McKeon, Collie Fearon, Niall Reed (0-1), Aiden Traynor, Declan Sheeran, Kieran Traynor, Owen McPartland, Shane Lyons, Aiden Dolan (0-4, 3 fr), John Mason, Garreth Kelly (0-3), Noel McPartland (1-4) Subs: Paul O’Connor, Pat Maguire (0-1 fr).
Stamford: John Kearney, Brendan Brady, Jason Williams, Philip Wickham, Pat Coyne, Donal Kissane, Keith Hennessey (0-1, fr), Justin O’Halloran (0-3, 1 fr), Tom Williams, Eric Bradley, Derek Williams (0-1), Sean Collins (0-1, fr), Aiden Sweeney (0-1, fr), Niall Faughan Sub: Musha Maher.
Referee: Danny McKenna.

Astoria Gaels 2-9 Down 0-7
Junior Football Div. A Quarter-Final

Gaels get their goal

First half goals from Damien Ward and Sean Munnelly sent Astoria to the JFA semi-finals at Down’s expense in Sunday’s nightcap. The Gaels had Down under pressure from the start and Donal Fleury’s opening point came only after Ultan Brown’s goal try was blocked by the Down defense.
Down would not be so fortunate on Astoria’s next chance. Damien Ward scooped up the break from Sam Yore’s long free and somehow squeezed his shot through the tightly packed Down backs.
Mark Dobbin pointed two frees as Down tried to get back into the match. With a semi-final berth at stake, tempers were quickly beginning to boil. Down center back Kevin Coulter and Gaels center forward Derrick McKenna were the main attraction and before the match was over both would be shown the line in separate incidents.
Dobbin’s third pointed free narrowed the gap to a point, Astoria 1-2 vs Down 0-4. Astoria responded with the last 1-2 of the half breaking the match open with some inspired team play. The halfback line of Michael Conroy, Niall Sugrue, and Gerry Corwyn were outstanding as they put the clamps on Down and pushed the Astoria attack forward.
Sam Yore and Michael Doherty were on top at midfield and when Sean Munnelly got behind the defense, the Astoria dangerman made no mistake.
Leading 2-4 to 0-4 at the break, Astoria opened with a majestic point from the boot of John Rabbitte. Then McKenna, who had been playing well, lost his composure and was shown the line.
Down pointed twice but great work by fullback Tim Lynch stymied the Down attack. Down had the man advantage for ten minutes before Eugene O’Hagen caught referee Damien Devlin’s eye and the sides were level.
Down would lose Coulter before the end as Astoria moved on with this impressive performance.
Man of the Match: Garry Corwyn.

Astoria: Eugene Kyne, Alan Foley, Tim Lynch, Gerry O’Brien, Michael Conroy, Niall Sugrue, Gerry Corwyn, Sam Yore (0-1), Michael Doherty, Damien Ward (1-0), Derrick McKenna, Donal Fleury (0-2), Ultan Brown, John Rabbitte (0-1), Sean Munnelly (1-4, 2 fr), Subs: Nestor Allen,(0-1) Mickey McAnee.
Down: Darren Quinn, Darren Farrell, Eugene O’Hagen, Chris Feeney, Martin McGovern, Kevin Coulter, Mark Kelly, Noel McGee (0-1), Barry Annette, Seamus Kelly (0-1), Mark Dobbin (0-4, all fr), Alan Kehoe, Liam Farrell, Ciaran Fearon (0-1), Colin Farrell.
Referee: Damien Devlin.

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