St John's boost title hopes as Cam Celtic women claim two wins
Roscommon & District FL round-up
The race for the Premier Division title is really close with just four points separating the top three as they get past the halfway stage. Ballaghaderreen looked on course for the title but they were beaten away to by a good St John's Athletic side at Lecarrow.
While the home side created some good chances in the early stages, Ballaghaderreen took an early lead with just eleven minutes played. Following 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 John's 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 crossbar and Caimin Boland headed to the net. St John's are now in third place in the table, four points behind the leaders with the same number of games played.
Boyle Celtic are level on points with Ballaghaderreen, after beating title holders Moore United 4-1, but have a game more played. In tough conditions, Moore started brightly and pressed Boyle high up the field and created four great chances just before half time, but were denied by good goalkeeping and poor finishing.
In the second half, Boyle had a strong wind on their backs. Moore defended well for periods but when a Boyle corner wasn't cleared, it allowed Michael Corrigan to head into the net with 50 minutes on the clock. Moore hadn't recovered from the first goal when Corrigan added a second for Boyle Celtic on 58 minutes.
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.
Shiven Rovers beat old rivals Ballinasloe Town 3-2 at Newbridge to secure three valuable points. Rovers went 1-0 up after 30 minutes against the run of play. Six players were involved in the lead up to the goal with Conor French crossing for Keith Murphy to tap in from twelve yards. Ballinasloe drew level early in the second half with Shane Kelly scoring a fine goal. Shiven restored their lead from the penalty spot through Keith Murphy. However, they got caught at the back with eight minutes remaining and Mark Richardson made it 2-2. In the fifth minute of added time, Adam Farrell finished from 15 metres to take all three points for Rovers.
Castleplunket side CP Ajax took on their closest rivals Castlerea Celtic at a very windy Tarmon on Sunday and drew 1-1. Oisin O'Farrell scored for Castlerea with the in-form Darren Boyle finish off a fine move to level the game.
In Division 1, 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 20 minutes when he scored direct from a corner kick. Conor Delaney levelled the game with 28 played and Emmet Kelly made it 2–1 eight minutes later. The home side had the majority of play in the second half but failed to break down a well organised Skyvalley defence.
Dunmore Town had a comfortable 3-0 home win over Moylough, while Ballymoe FC beat Glen Celtic 2–1 at Glenamaddy.
In Division 2, Rahara Rovers welcomed Ballaghaderreen to a windswept Clover Park on Sunday morning with unusually all four goals going to the team playing against the wind. Ballaghaderreen started strongly and, after 25 minutes, Kyle Lowry tucked away a nice shot which left his side 1-0 up at the break. The tide turned early in the second half when Rahara started to exert their dominance, and Shane McCormack 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 25 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 3-1 win 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. The sides were well matched for the remainder of the half but any hopes 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 Cuan's/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 had a positive few days when defeating both Castlerea and Shiven Rovers on scorelines of 2-1 and 2-0 respectively. The refixed game versus Castlerea was played at headquarters in Lecarrow on a windy and wet Thursday evening with Castlerea buzzing from their cup victory from the previous weekend. This was a very close game throughout with Castlerea much better in the first period splitting the usually watertight Cam defence and unlucky not to score while rattling the post on two occasions.
The teams were deadlocked at the break but Cam resumed the stronger and Aoife Coyle, who caused 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 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 Coyle and Castlerea got one back with a excellent free kick from all of 30 yards.
On Saturday evening Cam travelled to Newbridge and beat a youthful Shiven Rovers side 2-0. 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 behind a strong back four. Karen O’Boyle and Aisling Byrne were dominant at midfield while Aoife Coyle and Marion Nolan helped themselves to a goal apiece up front.
RESULTS
Premier Division: Shiven Rovers 3–2 Ballinasloe Town; St John's Athletic 2-1 Ballaghaderreen; Moore Utd 1-4 Boyle Celtic; CP Ajax 1-1 Castlerea Celtic.
Division 1: Dunmore Town 3–0 Moylough 79; Ballinagare Manor 1-2 Skyvalley Rovers; Glen Celtic 1-2 Ballymoe FC.
Division 2: Rahara Rovers 3-1 Ballaghaderreen FC; Cam Celtic/Dysart 0-4 Cloonfad Utd; Roscommon United 1-2 St Cuan's/Ahascragh Utd.
Women’s League: Castlerea Celtic 1-2 Cam Celtic; Shiven Rovers 0-2 Cam Celtic; Ballaghaderreen FC 1-4 Boyle Celtic.