RDFL ROUND UP 07/01/24

Roscommon and District League
Round Up
Ballaghaderreen F C continue to lead the Premier Division of the Roscommon and District League following a comfortable 5 – 1 win over Ballinasloe Town at Ballaghaderreen. Oisin Horan scored from close range with thirty-three played and Ballaghaderreen added a second just before half time through Tom Ward. Mark Ricardson pulled one back for Ballinasloe five minutes into the second half but Leon Sinnott restored the Ballaghaderreen two goal advantage with seventy eight played. Shairoze Akram added two more near the end following good work by Peter Horan

Having reached the halfway stage Boyle Celtic share the lead with Ballaghaderreen, but they have a game more played. They beat Shiven Rovers 1 – 0 at Boyle. The Newbridge side were under a lot of pressure throughout the game, but they defended really well and looked to have secured an away point as the game went into time added on. However, Callum Andrews scored for Boyle Celtic with almost the last kick of the game.

St Johns Athletic are still in the title race following a 3 – 1 win over C P Ajax. Pedro gave the Castleplunket side a 1 – 0 lead with fifteen minutes played but Jamie Tiernan levelled the game with thirty-two played. Dan Connolly came close to restoring the C P Ajax lead early in the second half but the St Johns keeper pulled off a good save to deny him. Daniel O Brien gave St Johns Athletic a 2 – 1 lead after good work by Cian Kelly and with the Castleplunket side pushing for an equaliser Jamie Tiernan sealed the three points for his side. Having reached the halfway stage St Johns are four points behind the leaders with a game more played.

Title holders Moore United are seven points behind the leaders and they have a lot to do if they are to retain their title. They were held to a 3 – 3 draw at home to Castlerea Celtic.
Moore started well pinning Castlerea inside their own half.
After a few early half chances, Moore looked the more likely to score but with ten played a lack of concentration in the Moore defence allow the Castlerea sticker Oisin O Farrell to turn and shoot past the helpless Moore Keeper.
Moore didn't panic and went looking of an equaliser.
The chance did come after great work and persistent pressure from Charles and Jack Nevin, resulting in a Castlerea defender badly timing a challenge in his own box, giving the Referee no option to point to the spot.
Up stepped Charles Nevin to send the keeper the wrong way and give Moore a deserved equaliser with twenty played.
Moore took the lead on the stroke of half time. A super corner kick was delivered by Shane Pettit into the Castlerea box, only for the defender, under massive pressure, to deflect the ball into his own net.
Moore started the second half brightly and should have stretched their lead but for poor finishing. Castlerea never stopped trying and were rewarded when a badly timed challenge in the Moore box resulted the Referee pointing to the spot.
The Castlerea player Jarlath Geraghty made no mistake by sending the Moore keeper the wrong way. Moore changed personal and formation to try and get back the lead.
Castlerea thought they had won all three points when Thomas Regan gave them a 3 – 2 lead with five minutes left to play. A ball into the Moore box wasn't cleared and fell to the winger to tap into an empty net.
Moore threw caution to the wind and pushed for the equaliser.
Great work and persistence from Charles Nevin squared a ball for Emmet Kenny to tap home to give Moore a share of the spoils.

Due to frozen pitches no game was played in Division 1 and only two games were played in Division 2.
St Cuans / Ahascragh United beat Ballaghaderreen’s second side 5 – 1at Ahascragh.
Liam O Connor scored two and Colin Concannon, Nathan Horan and Jordan O Leary added one each for the winner,

Rahara Rovers and Kilkerrin United drew 2 – 2 at Rahara.
Cormac Lavin scored for Rahara after 20 minutes and it remained that way until half time. Kilkerrin equalised 5 minutes into the second half through Oisín Hynes. Cormac Lavin scored his second for Rahara on the hour mark but Martin Fahy secured a point for the visitors with ten minutes remaining. Both teams came close to winning at the end but all agreed that a draw was the fair result.

In the play off game between Cam Celtic / Dysart and Glen Celtic to decide who will play in the newly formed Division 1 and Division 2 the Glenamaddy side Glen Celtic won and they will play in Division 1. David Cunniffe gave Cam Dysart an early lead but Gavin Hegarty soon had the sides level. In the second half Ryan Mc Hugh added two more and Gavin Hegarty one with an own goal making up the total for Glen Celtic in a 5 – 1 win.

In the Women’s League Kilkerrin United beat Shiven Rovers 4- 0 at Kilkerrin. Caitlin Boyle scored three and Kate Mc Gann one for the winners.

Ballinasloe Town drew 1 – 1 with St Cuans / Ahascragh United in a good game at Ballinasloe. Joyce Kelly scored for the visitors in the first half with Ballinasloe replying near the end of the game.

Boyle Celtic beat Castlerea Celtic 5 – 1 at Boyle. Sinead O Donoghue scored two and Ciara Byrne Niamh Mc Namara and Emma Duggan got one each.

Cam Celtic WFC beat Ballaghaderreen 4 1 in this top of the table clash at Headquarters, Lecarrow on Sat evening. Ballaghaderreen were quickest to settle in and were 1 to the good after 26 mins. Cam levelled through Karen Carty before half time to leave the score 1 all at the break. Cam came out much stronger in the second half and were two up just sixteen minutes after the restart following goals from Marion Nolan and Katie McDonnell. Continuing to dominate with excellent play round the middle of the park by the aforementioned Marion Nolan and Katie McDonnel ably assisted by Karen O Boyle together with the introductions from the bench Cam ran out easy winners when Alaine Morris netted minutes from the final whistle.

In the reserve League Dunmore Town beat Shiven Rovers 4 – 2 at Dunmore in the only game played. Ben Glynn scored two and Patrick Cosgrove and Barry Murphy added one each for the winners. Seamus O Kelly and Darragh Murphy replying for the Newbridge side.