Impressive Ros' minors overcome Galway to win Connacht title
by Matt Scally Updated: Wednesday, 20th July, 2011 5:30pm
Roscommon 1-9 Galway 0-6
Roscommon's minor team made a small piece of history on Sunday afternoon last. Sunday's somewhat comfortable win over Galway represented not only their 12th provincial title at this level but also the first time a Roscommon minor team had won the Kilcoyne Cup at Dr. Hyde Park.
They did so with yet another assured display full of maturity, the same kind of performance that helped to see off Mayo in the semi-final. For the second game running, Tom Corcoran, the towering Strokestown midfielder, picked up the Man of the Match award. His accurate free-taking in the first-half set Roscommon up nicely after a dominant but unproductive opening quarter. But it was his tireless effort and ball-winning around the middle that really set him apart from the rest. Beside him, Fintan Kelly was similarly impressive - the duo forming a formidable partnership at midfield.
Conor Daly of Padraig Pearses also picked up where he left off in the semi-final, putting in another fine display at wing-back. Up front, Donal Smith took a while to get going but, once he did, the Boyle forward provided that much-needed touch of class to get Roscommon over the line.
In what was a decidedly poor Galway team on the day, corner-forward Conor Rabbitte showed himself at least to be a threat to the Roscommon back-line. The imposing Shane Maughan started the game brightly but was guilty of shooting a number of bad wides.
Waiting for Roscommon in the quarter-finals now is Armagh who lost to Cavan in the Ulster decider on the same day. That clash with Armagh is due to be played on Saturday, July 30. Having already claimed the scalps of Mayo and Galway (although at this level, it's debatable whether they still represent scalps any more), beating another traditionally big county in the quarter-final would really herald Roscommon as contenders for All-Ireland honours. Whether or not they can emulate the 2006 All-Ireland winning team is anyone's guess, but there's no doubting that this team has the talent to launch a serious assault on the Tom Markham Cup. That discussion is for another day, however.
For now, Ross Shannon and his squad of players can enjoy their achievement and know that, on Sunday, they provided the one source of joy to Roscommon supporters in an otherwise forgettable day, with the Roscommon senior team losing out to Mayo in the Connacht final showpiece.
The opening quarter saw Roscommon appear extremely nervous in their play. Balls were fumbled, passes got away from players and they went a full 17 minutes before scoring. It must be acknowledged, however, that this was due, in no small part, to the dreadful weather conditions prevailing around the county town venue.
It was Galway who started the brighter, however, and it was they who took the lead on two minutes when wing-back Cathal Mulryan took a pass from Shane Maughan before taking his point. It could just as easily have been a goal, however, had Maughan's pass not been slightly behind the Galway defender. Another goal chance presented itself to the Tribesmen in the sixth minute when Shane Walsh got on the end of a long ball, finding himself unmarked in front of goal. But he fumbled at the crucial moment, allowing Shane Carty (Padraig Pearses) to intervene with a sliding challenge.
The scrappy start to the game continued until the 17th minute when Roscommon finally got off the mark through a Donie Smith free. Two minutes later from Tom Corcoran, put Roscommon into the lead for the first time.
The No 9 added another one soon after and the resurgence continued on 23 minutes when Enda Lannon struck for the game's only goal. The in-form Corcoran was the architect, taking control of possession on the Galway 21 before picking out the run inside of Liam Conlon with a clever reverse pass. Conlon took a solo and unselfishly offloaded to Lannon who, without catching it, volleyed the ball emphatically to the roof of the net. From that moment on, Roscommon never looked back. Corcoran added his third in first-half injury-time and even though there remained only six between the sides at the break, with the wind at their backs in the second half, the smart money was on Roscommon to push on for an easy win.
Galway's plight wasn't helped a minute after the turnaround when Conor Rabbitte missed a relatively simple free from just 21 yards out. Instead, the honour of resuming scoring went to Donie Smith, who landed probably the score of the game from 40 yards out.Two quick-fire points from Maughan and Rabbitte in the 41st minute gave Galway some hope but, by the 45th minute, both Smith and Corcoran had nullified those efforts. And by the 50th minute, the margin hadn't been altered with Smith trading scores with Walsh. Galway tried to up it for the remaining ten minutes but they had long since run out of ideas and Roscommon, now with their tails up, were able to close out the game at their ease.
SCORERS - Roscommon: D Smith (0-4, 2f), T Corcoran (0-4, 4f), E Lannon (1-0), K Finn (0-1).
Galway: S Maughan (0-3, 1f), C Mulryan (0-1), C Rabbitte (0-1) S Walsh (0-1).
ROSCOMMON: Colm Lavin; David Murray, Ross Timothy, Shane Carty; Maurice Connaughton, John McManus, Conor Daly; Fintan Kelly, Thomas Corcoran; Liam Conlon, Mark Healy, Enda Smith; Donal Smith, Enda Lannon, Shane Jordan. Subs: Kevin Finn for Lannon (42), Eddie Egan for E Smith (57), Fintan Sweeney for Jordan (59), Tadhg McKenna for Conlon (62).
GALWAY: Connor Gleeson; Liam Silke, James Shaughnessy, Conor Cunningham; Eoin Walsh, Gearóid Canavan, Cathal Mulryan; Shane Geoghegan, Sean Moran; Patrick Glynn, Ian Burke, Adrian Nolan; Conor Rabbitte, Shane Maughan, Shane Walsh. Subs: Johnny Kelleher for Nolan (23), Adrian Nolan for Moran (h-t), Tom Comer for Cunningham (48), Charlie Timon for Mulryan (48), Garry Kelly for Walsh (53).
REFEREE: Raymond McBrien (Leitrim).
