Ladies return to winning ways
Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 3 (Round 3): Roscommon 2-9 Meath 0-12
Roscommon got their league campaign back on track with a hard-fought three point win against Meath at St. Loman’s, Mullingar last Sunday. Meath began best with three early points, but once Rebecca Finan scored a fine goal in the 12th minute Roscommon were back in the hunt.
Points from Rachel Fitzmaurice, Joanne Cregg and Louise Brady established a good lead for Roscommon and when Jenny Higgins scored a great goal in the 23rd minute, the Rossies were in control and they led by 2-5 to 0-8 at half-time.
Meath tacked on two early points in the second half to reduce the margin to just one but Roscommon defended heroically. Two great points from Laura Fleming proved crucial in that second- half.
Meath reduced the margin to just one with 5 minutes left. But Rebecca Finan pointed a free and then Laura Fleming pointed another placed ball to see Roscommon over the line.
Next up it’s an away trip to Wexford on Sunday and a win would put Roscommon right back in the promotion mix.
Roscommon: H Cummins; H Ennis, R Wynne, R Brady; N Feeney, A McLoone, S Kenny; J Higgins (1-1), J Cregg (0-1); L Fleming (0-4), J Downey, L Brady (0-1); S Brady, R Finan (1-1), R Fitzmaurice (0-1). Subs: A McAuliffe for R Brady, A Gavin for S Brady.
Camogie season springs to life
The Roscommon Junior Camogie side begin their 2018 season at 2 pm on Sunday next at Pairc an Piarsaigh when they play Tyrone in the opening round of the Littlewoods League.
There are joint managers – Brian Griffin and Paul Feeney – in charge this year and hopes are high of success in the county after the performances of the underage team in recent years.
In the league, the team have two home games, this Sunday and then against Wicklow, and there are two away games against Kerry and Clare and a place in the league final will be the aim in 2018.
With a mix of younger and more experienced players like Caroline Connaughton, Laura Fleming, Joanne Beattie, Siobhan Coyle and Niamh Coyle Roscommon can look forward to a very good season if they can start with a win on Sunday.
New Inn end CBS Connacht adventure
Darragh O’Connor
CBS Roscommon’s bid to reach a second Connacht Schools Senior Hurling Final in three years came to a disappointing end in Mountbellew on Monday afternoon as St. Killian’s New Inn came out on top in a tense affair to win 1-11 to 1-8 in this ‘C’ Semi-Final.
New Inn started quicker, scoring 1-3 without reply in the opening seven minutes. Ben McGahon got CBS off the mark with a well-taken long-range free. The game began to settle down after the quick start with the sides exchanging scores for the rest of the half. Jack Lohan, Ben McGahon and Orin Walsh struck points for CBS to leave the score at 1-7 to 0-4 at the break.
The second half began like the first, however it was the CBS quicker out of the traps this time. Three minutes in, Peter Gillooly was fouled in the penalty area and the referee did not hesitate in giving a penalty. Ben McGahon stroked the penalty into the top left hand corner of the net. However the CBS will be disappointed that they failed to score again for the next fourteen minutes. In that time New Inn struck three unanswered points. CBS wouldn’t lie down and it made for a tense and exciting finish. Two Peter Gillooly points and one each from Ben McGahon and Daire Beirne gave the Roscommon side a glimmer of hope but it was a case of too little, too late as New Inn ran out three point winners. Best for CBS were Ben McGahon, Jack Lohan, Oisín Kelly and Kyle Walsh.
