Rossies fall short despite brave effort

Roscommon missed out on their third Junior football title at O'Moore Park, Portlaoise, last Saturday after a monumental second-half effort fell just short. In many ways Cork were the superior side and deserved their victory. They boasted numerous physically imposing players as well as some very skilful ones too. But Roscommon battled immensely in the second-half, with Darren McDermott and Paul Garvey to the fore. The introduction of Stephen Ormsby just before half-time also proved to be instrumental in keeping Roscommon in the game. Up until then, Cork full-forward Robert O'Mahony had been virtually unplayable, scoring 0-4 from play. But Ormsby severely curtailed O'Mahony's influence once he came on, barely giving him a sniff in the second half. Had Ormsby been started, Roscommon could well be celebrating their third All-Ireland Junior title such was the closely-fought nature of this game. Having lost heavily to Dublin in last year's decider, Roscommon were out to make amends. And they got off to a flyer with Darren McDermott converting a second-minute free to give Ros' the lead. After five minutes the lead was increased when full-forward Ronan Kelly, who had begun the game well, won a ball out in front before transferring to Damien Keenehan. And the centre-forward pointed well from inside the 45-yard line. On eight minutes, Robert O'Mahony fired out a warning shot when he received a clever pass from John Paul Murphy before rounding his man and firing a powerful shot at goal. But Mark Miley was equal to the task in the Roscommon goal, the St. Dominic's man pulling off a magnificent block to avert the danger. In fact, it took until the twelfth minute for Cork to get off the mark. Again O'Mahony received the ball and beat his man, but this time he curled the ball between the posts off his left boot. Two minutes later, parity was restored after midfielder Andrew O'Sullivan embarked on a solo run before fisting the ball over the bar. With Cork in the ascendancy, number ten Daniel O'Sullivan pointed the Leesiders into the lead for the first time on 18 minutes with the first of his eventual haul of 0-6. But just a minute later, Roscommon were on level terms again. Martin Reynolds fielded a Mark Miley kick-out superbly before passing in to Ronan Cox. Cox then moved the ball to McDermott who skilfully pointed off his left boot from a standing position. However, Cork were very much on top at this stage, particularly at midfield where, despite the good start to the game made to the game by Roscommon's Paul Freeman, the pairing of Andrew O'Sullivan and Chris O'Donovan were now dominant. Points from O'Mahony and corner-forward Vincent Hurley put the Munster champions two to the good after 22 minutes. And by the 26th minute the two-point lead had become four with further points from O'Mahony and Colm O'Driscoll. When O'Mahony made it a five-point lead a minute later, things were looking ominous for Roscommon. But they managed to stay in touch with a Darren McDermott free just before half-time after Clement McCormack had been fouled. The second-half was to be a pulsating one with Roscommon fighting tremendously hard to win the game. But Cork always seemed to be able to get crucial scores when it mattered to keep the Connacht champions at arms-length. Paul Garvey and Daniel O'Donovan traded scores for their respective sides upon resumption of play. And a bright start to the half by Roscommon was compounded by further points from Garvey and McDermott to reduce the deficit to just two points. But Cork were to pull away again. Points from Daniel O'Donovan (2) and JP Murphy opened up a five-point gap once more. An impressive Martin Reynolds free from well outside the 45 was then cancelled out by an equally impressive free from Daniel O'Donovan to keep five between the sides with thirteen to play. Back came Roscommon again. A surging run from Niall Carty gave Ronan Cox the chance to grab his first of the game, which he did in style. Then, a fine move initially involving Garvey and half-back Cathal Dineen saw McDermott reduce the Cork lead to three. And three became two when, with eight minutes remaining, Garvey pointed from a tight angle after a patient Roscommon move. Roscommon were in the ascendancy but, with seven minutes to play, Cork's knack for getting crucial scores at crucial times came back to haunt Roscommon when, immediately after Garvey's point, corner-forward Vincent Hurley landed his second of the day to put three between them once again. Wing-back Cathal Dineen then popped up with an important point for Roscommon to leave the scores at 0-14 to 0-12 in favour of Cork with five to play plus injury-time (of which there would be three minutes). It was a frantic finale where neither side seemed able to score. Roscommon pushed hard but by the time injury-time rolled around they still hadn't scored. They now needed a goal. Again they pushed hard but in doing so they left gaps at the back, gaps which Cork half-forward Daniel O'Donovan exploited to seal the title for Munster champions with an injury-time point. Roscommon had one final chance to launch the ball toward the Cork goal but Cathal Dineen wasted possession and Cork claimed their 15th Junior title. SCORERS - Cork: Daniel O'Donovan (0-6, 2f, 1 '45), Robert O'Mahony (0-4), Vincent Hurley (0-2), Andrew O'Sullivan (0-1), Colm O'Driscoll (0-1), John Paul Murphy (0-1). Roscommon: Darren McDermott (0-5, 2f), Paul Garvey (0-3, 1f), Damien Keenehan (0-1), Martin Reynolds (0-1, 1f). CORK: Paddy O'Shea, Pat Gaynor, Enda Wiseman, John McLoughlin, Richard O'Sullivan, Gerry Healy, Michael Fehilly, Andrew O'Sullivan, Chris O'Donovan, Daniel O'Donovan, Seamus O'Sullivan, Colm O'Driscoll, Vincent Hurley, Robert O'Mahony, John Paul Murphy. SUBS: Michael Prout for M. Fehilly (51 mins), Paudie O'Cahill for V. Hurley (55), Noel O'Riordan for A. O'Sullivan (57). ROSCOMMON: Mark Miley, Kevin Kilcline, Mark McLoughlin, Eamon Towey, Niall Carty, Dermot McGarry, Cathal Dineen, Paul Freeman, Martin Reynolds, Clement McCormack, Damien Keenehan, Ronan Cox, Paul Garvey, Ronan Kelly, Darren McDermott. SUBS: Stephen Ormsby for D. McGarry (29), Thomas Mahon for C. McCormack (HT), Brian Mullins for R. Kelly (55). REFEREE: Tómas Quigley (Dublin).