February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Roscommon faced a Donegal team that featured four players from the New York minor club Celtics, a couple of whom still play at the U-16 level. C.J. Molloy, Kevin Purse and Kevin and Mike Hegarty led the Donegal youth movement, a promising development on a day that also saw St. Barnabas introduce a couple of players that came up through their youth systems.
At the other end of the spectrum for Donegal, and also a symbol of New York’s player shortage, were C.J. Molloy’s Uncle Frank and his father Connie. Frank, better known as “Chief,” started and played a solid match in the goal for Donegal, while Connie came in at the half, joining his son in the Donegal forward line.
Roscommon broke out on top with points from full forward James Cullinane and corner man Edmund Cleary, a one time Donegal star. A C.J. Molloy free preceded an Anton Diver point from play and sides were at level pegging.
A good Roscommon patch sparked by some good midfield play from John Walsh and Danny O’Sullivan stretched the Roscommon advantage to 0-6 to 0-3, although it might have been more as Roscommon squandered some good scoring chances.
Donegal hung in there, however, and two points from Diver, Donegal’s very active center forward, kept it a close 0-6 to 0-4 going to the break.
After early exchanges saw each side add 0-2 to their totals to start the second stanza, Roscommon’s Andy O’Connor’s goal put a little distance between the sides.
O’Connor was sent in all alone on the Donegal goal from a fine James Cullinane pass. The Chief had just pulled off two good saves, but the Donegal keeper was helpless when O’Connor rounded him and fired into the empty net.
With 17 minutes gone, Roscommon sought to press their advantage but instead it was Donegal that struck next. Paddy Burns was fouled in the penalty area and Vernon Gallagher’s well-struck penalty cut the deficit to 1-8 to 1-6.
O’Sullivan and Cullinane stretched Roscommon’s lead to 0-4 points but Donegal weren’t ready to concede. Diver, who was dangerous all game and the youngster Purse pointed and then another Diver point cut the margin to just one point.
With Donegal pressing, John Walsh made a huge catch under pressure on the edge of the square. After Donegal wasted a goal chance from a good free, Walsh broke up another Donegal attack.
Donegal launched one last attempt, and the dangerman Diver was driving toward the Roscommon goal. Just when a score looked inevitable, Roscommon cornerback Darren O’Neill made a saving tackle and Roscommon hung on.
Man of the Match: John Walsh
Roscommon:
JR Stack, Darragh Gaffney, Paul Levins, Darren O’Neill, Niall Naughton, Declan Coyne, Aiden Murray, John Walsh (0-1), Danny O’Sullivan (0-2), Ken Cox, Andy O’Connor (1-0), Aiden Smith, Ed Cleary (0-5, 1 fr), James Cullinane (0-2) Niall Mulvihill.
Donegal:
Frank Molloy, Mike Flood, Mark Duggan, Kevin Hegarty, Sean McCabe, Brian Hegarty, Kevin Purce (0-1), Vernon Gallagher (1-1, 1 peno), Kevin O’Connor, CJ Molloy (0-1, fr), Anton Diver (0-5), Aiden Duffy, Damien Treacy, Fiachra Kirwan, Paddy Burns Sub: Connie Molloy (0-1, fr).