RDFL 18/03/24

Roscommon and District League Round Up.10th March 2024

The Connacht Shield took centre stage with teams competing for a place in the quarter finals.
Cloonfad United are safely through following a 3 - 1 win over Mervue United B at Cloonfad.

Mervue went one ahead on 12 minutes through Sean Dipson
Conor Ruane levelled on 20 minutes. Brother Luke Ruane put Cloonfad 2-1 on 43 minutes.
And a spectacular James Brennan goal on 54 minutes sealed the 3-1 win for Cloonfad.

The surprise result of the day was the defeat of Premier side
Boyle Celtic by Division 1 side Ballinagare / Manor United at Ballinagare.
While the Premier side Boyle Celtic finished with nine men after two sending offs for two bookings each it cannot take from the winner’s performance.
Ballinagare /Manor started at hundred mile an hour on the front foot and Jay McCartney stuck a brilliant shoot in to roof of net. Shortly after Gerry lobbed the advancing keeper to make it 2-0 after 20 mins, Five minutes later captain Alan Keane headed in from a corner kick to make 3-0 at halftime. In 2nd half it was one way traffic again and Boyle were reduced to 10 men, with Gerry Ward converting 2 penalties.

The Division 1 side Glen Celtic were beaten 2 - 1 away to Claremorris. Ryan Duffy scored for the losers.

Premier side Ballinasloe Town were beaten 3- 1 away to Dromahair. Jonathon Moloney scored for the losers.

In the Premier Division Moore United had a 5 - 0 win over Castlerea Celtic at Castlerea.
Moore started brightly and dominated position from the start.
After 3 minutes, a great thought ball put Charles Nevin through on goal and Charles made no mistake with slotting the ball under the keeper.
With this early goal Moore were in no form to take the foot of the pedal.
One became two after 12 mins. Again another good ball from Liam Ryan put Charles through and this time he lifted the ball over the keeper to give Moore a deserved 2 - 0 lead.
The second half resumed as the first finished, with Moore stretching Castlerea.
Moore needed the third goal to be sure of the result and this came five mins into the second with Jack Nevin rounding the keeper to slot to a empty net.
Still no signs of letting up, Moore pushed for more and Charles made it four and his hattrick of goals with a fine strike from outside the penalty area.
A strong team move from one end to the other, ended with Jack Nevin getting his second with a lovely finish to round of a great team performance and a 5 - 0 win over a side who finished with nine men.

The Castleplunket side C P Ajax had a valuable 2 - 1 win over St Johns Athletic at Lecarrow and are now fifth from bottom of the Premier Division
The game was evenly matched for most of the first half until CP conceded when a nothing ball fell loose in the box to the oncoming St. John’s striker Jamie Tiernan who tucked it away to the bottom corner.
CP upped the tempo in the second half and began to get more of a foothold in the game. Finally, with 15 minutes to go substitute Elias Junior got CP back on level terms when he headed home a Dan Connolly cross from the left wing.
Then, with less than 10 minutes to go Paul Mee scored a cracker from just inside the opposition half after spotting the St. John’s keeper off his line to help CP grab a much needed 3 points on the day.

Skyvalley Rovers hold on to top spot in Division 1 thanks to a hard earned 2 - 1 win over Moylough 79 at Moylough. A corner taken by Emmet Kelly found Mike Donoghue and he finished with a good header after 15 min. Moylough equalized just before half time when Mike Foley took a free kick and found the bottom corner from a few yards outside the box. Both sides had chances but it was Skyvalley who scored what proved to be the winner with a tap in for Emmet Kelly after good work from Mike Garvey.

Ballaghaderreen first side lost 3-1 aet at home to Shiven Rovers in a qualifier of the Premier Divisional Cup. It was 0 - 0 at half time in a very even game. Seamus Cunniffe bundled in a goal to give Ballaghaderreen the lead 15 minutes into the 2nd half. Shiven equalized with 10 minutes to go through Gabrial Costa to send the game to extra time. Shiven took the lead 2 minutes into the first period when Lucas Costa finished neatly after a mistake in the home defence. Ballaghaderreen threw everything but the kitchen sink at Shiven but their defence stood firm. Shiven added a third on the counter attack with 2 minutes to go thanks to Keith Murphy. For Shiven it was happy days as Tom Doyle returned to the team after being absent through illness for two years.

In Division 2 Roscommon United beat Rahara Rovers 3 - 1 at Rahara on Sunday.
Rahara opened the scoring after 35 minutes when brothers Dylan and Evan Donnelly combined well with the latter smashing home from outside the box. Roscommon pushed hard in the second half and got an equalizer on the hour mark through Marcel Gala. Both sides came close late on and when the home side gambled for the win they were caught by two sucker punches on the break in the last 5 minutes through Jay Donlon and Marcel Gala again.

In the Women's League
Boyle Celtic ladies beat St Cuan's / Ahascragh Utd. 6- 0 at Boyle. Sinead O Donoghue, Niamh McNamara, Ciara Byrne, Emma Duggan and two from Christine Glynn were the goal scorers.

Cam Celtic beat Ballinasloe Town 3 - 0 at Lecarrow.

Shiven Rovers beat Ballaghaderreen 2 - 1 at Ballaghaderreen.
Allanagh McGrath scored for Ballaghaderreen on 25 min Muirne Kilcommins equalized on 32 minutes and Rachel Farrell got the winner on 67 minutes.

Kilkerrin United beat Castlerea Celtic 2 - 1 at Kilkerrin. Sarah Ward and Karen Finnegan for the winners and Aoife Smyth for the losers scored the goals.
In the men's Reserve Division Dunmore Town beat Moore United 6 - 2 at Dunmore.

In the Reserve Division Dunmore Town beat Moore United 6 – 2 at Moore. Raman Saman scored three and Padraig Martyn two and Barry Murray one for the winners.