RDFL ROUND UP 28/01/24

Roscommon and District League
Round up 28th January 2024
The race for the Premier Division title is really close with just 4 points separating the top three as they get past the halfway stage. Ballaghaderreen F C looked on course for the title but they were beaten away to by a good St Johns Athletic side at Lecarrow. While the home side created some good chances in the early stages it was to be the Ballaghaderreen side who took an early lead with just eleven minutes played. Ballaghaderreen a corner kick which the home defence struggled to clear. The ball broke to Oisin Horan who scored from close range. With two minutes remaining in the first half St Johns Athletic got the goal they deserved. A long throw from man of the match Simon Leonard reached Jamie Tiernan and he shrugged off a couple of tackles before scoring. The home side came close to scoring early in the second half but had to wait until five minutes before the end to get the winner. A well struck Cian Kelly free kick came back off the Ballaghaderreen cross bar and Caimin Boland headed to the net. St Johns are now in third place in the points table four points behind the leaders with the same number of Games played.
Boyle Celtic are level on points with Ballaghaderreen but have a game more played. They beat title holders Moore United 4 – 1 at Moore. In tough conditions Moore started brightly and pressed Boyle high up the field and created four great chances just before half time, only for good goal keeping and poor finishing. In the second half Boyle Celtic had a strong wind on their backs.
Moore defended well for periods only for a poor clearance ended with a corner to Boyle, which wasn't cleared to allow Michael Corrigan to head into the net with fifty on the clock. Moore hadn't recovered from the first goal when again the ball wasn't cleared and Michael Corrigan added a second for Boyle Celtic with fifty eight played.
Moore tried to get back into the game by pushing players forward but paid the price when Callum Andrews and Michael James added two more on the break for the winners. Moore kept trying and after hard work from Charles Nevin whose effort came back off the crossbar, Josh Lennon was there to head home a consolation goal for Moore.
Shiven Rovers beat old rivals Ballinasloe Town 3 – 2 at Newbridge and secured three valuable points. Shiven Rovers went on up after thirty minutes against the run of play. A great team goal with six players involved in the lead up to the goal with Conor French crossed for Keith Murphy to tap in from twelve yards. Shiven conceded early in the second half with Shane Kelly scoring a fine goal for the losers. Shiven restored their lead from the penalty spot with twenty left to play through Keith Murphy. However, they got caught at the back with eight minutes remaining and Mark Richardson made two each. In the fifth minute of time added on Adam Farrell finished from fifteen metres to take all three points for Shiven Rovers
The Castleplunket side C P Ajax took on their closest rivals Castlerea Celtic at a very windy Tarmon on Sunday and drew 1 – 1. Both teams started reasonably well. Castlerea applied the most pressure having the hill and the wind with them. Although only getting one shot on target in the first half they went in at half time one up. It came from a long clearance from Celtic Keeper which caught out the home defence and their striker Oisin O Farrell was quickest to it. In the second half C P made a few changes and they got the ball down and played better with some good passing. The hard working and inform Darren Boyle finish off a fine move to level the game. Castlerea Celtic got one shot on target in second half which brought a brilliant save for keeper Killian Higgins. C P were dominant throughout the second half and when Darren Boyle intercepted a pass across Celtic back line forty yards from goal he looked set to score but the ball bobbled when he was about to strike it and the keeper saved.

In Division 1 Dunmore Town had a comfortable 3-0 M win over Moylough in game played at Dunmore. Dunmore raced out of the blocks and hit the visitors with 3 goals in a frenetic first 45 minutes. Barely a minute in, a back pass was intercepted by Thomas Gleeson who was taken down by the Moylough keeper to give the home side a penalty, which Pádraig Costello tucked away perfectly. Less than 10 minutes later more good play from Gleeson teed up Declan Forde who made no mistake with an excellent first-time finish to make it 2. Dunmore’s intensity lead to their 3rd when Gleeson picked up a loose ball and rifled in a strike with a curling left foot finish. The second half saw Moylough try to pile pressure on, but the Dunmore rearguard were solid and compact, keeping the visitors to limited chances.
Skyvalley Rovers travelled to Ballinagare and battled hard before coming away with a 2 – 1 win over Ballinagare / Manor United. Gerry Ward gave the home side a 1- 0 lead after twenty minutes of play when he scored direct from a corner kick. Conor Delaney levelled the game with twenty-eight played and Emmet Kelly made it 2 – 1 eight minutes later. Ballinagare / Manor had the majority of play in the second half but failed to break down a well organised Skyvalley Rovers defence.
Ballymoe F C beat Glen Celtic 2 – 1 at Glenamaddy. Dan Malone gave the winners a 1- 0 lead after thirty-five minutes, and Gavin Hegarty levelled the game with sixty five played. Paddy Ramsone headed the winner with eighty-five played following a Jason Tarmey cross.
In Division 2 Rahara Rovers welcomed the Ballaghaderreen boys to a windswept Clover Park on Sunday morning with unusually all 4 goals going to the team playing against the wind. Ballaghaderreen started strongly and after 25 minutes Kyle Lowry tucked away a nice shot which would leave his side 1 up at the break. The tide turned early in the second half when Rahara started to exert their dominance. A nice move from Conor Kavanagh resulted in a half chance for Shane McCormack who struck a sweet volley to level the game. Some intricate passing between midfielders Niall Hynes and Niall Keenan put Cormac Lavin through on goal and he slotted home to give Rahara the lead with twenty-five minutes to go. Paul Flaherty's timely run set up an opportunity which he finished well with ten minutes to go and the home side held on for a well-deserved win. Both teams played the ball on the ground which led to a fine game in the blustery conditions.
Cloonfad United bead Cam Celtic / Dysart 4 – 0 at Dysart. Darragh Flynn gave Cloonfad a 1 – 0 lead after six minutes of play. The sides were well matched for the remainder of the half but any hope of a comeback from the home side were dashed when Luke Ruane added a second for the winners within two minutes of the restart. Daithi Gannon and James Brennan added two more within the next ten minutes to secure all three points.
St Cuans / Ahascragh United beat Roscommon United 2 – 1 at Lecarrow. Cameron O Leary and Liam O Connor scored for the winners and Diarmuid Mulry replied for the Town side.
In the Women’s league Cam Celtic Women's Senior Team had a good weekend when defeating both Castlerea and Shiven Rovers on scorelines of 2 - 1 and 2- 0 respectively. The refixed game vs Castlerea was played at Headquarters in Lecarrow on a windy and wet Thurs evening with Castlerea buzzing from their Cup victory of last weekend. This was a very close game throughout with Castlerea much better in the first period splitting the usually water tight Cam defence and unlucky not to score while rattling the post on two occasions. Teams were deadlocked at the break at nil all but Cam resumed the stronger and Aoife Coyle who was playing havoc all through up front had her shot parried and Sarah O’Rourke was first to react threading the ball to the bottom right corner. This together with a little bit of verbal between players where Ref got involved seemed to spark more urgency into both teams and gave the large crowd of supporters a last half hour of brilliant football. Cam scored again through Aoife Coyle and Castlerea got one back with a excellent free kick from all of 30 yards.
Onto Saturday evening Cam travelled to Newbridge and beat a youthful Shiven Rovers side by 2 nil. Again this game was a joy to watch with the home team playing some beautiful free flowing attacking football but unable to penetrate the Cam defence with Emily Staunton in top form between the posts and the back four of Emer, Alaine, Rebecca and Meave holding out

Karen O’ Boyle and Aisling Byrne were dominant at midfield while Aoife Coyle and Marion Nolan each helped themselves to a goal apiece up front.