Roslea 3-12
St Patricks 0-7
A first half hat trick from corner forward Ruairi McGuinness powered Roslea to a commanding victory over St Patricks in this Erne Cup Division one decider which was the curtain raiser at Brewster Park on Sunday.
The goals, two of which came inside the space of sixty seconds around the 20th minute mark, effectively sealed the win for a Roslea side who had been dominating affairs right from the outset.
That domination hadn’t been reflected to any great degree on the scoreboard, Roslea managed just three points over the opening quarter but the double strike from McGuinness scorched them comfortably ahead and the result from there on was a foregone conclusion.
St Patricks did make a mini revival towards the end of the half and tossed over three points in succession but they reached the break ten points adrift.
The Donagh side were to pick off the opening score on the resumption to offer up the suggestion that they might indeed be able to make a fight of it but this suggestion was promptly knocked on the head as the prolific McGuinness speared over three swift answering points.
A game which had lacked a serious competitive edge from very early on was left to trundle to the finish.
Both teams were to end the hour with fourteen on board, St Patricks reduced in numbers ten minutes from time with centre forward Shane McDermott dispatched on a second yellow.
A few minutes later Roslea who by this stage had used up their full quota of substitutions had a player dismissed on a black card.
Early points for Roslea came from advancing wing half back Niall Beggan who shot two and a single was added by Greg Connolly.
St Patricks were finding it hard going but they did manage the occasional raid but failed to hit the target.
Roslea might well have notched a goal but a shot from Aaron Mulligan was blocked on the goal line by a colleague.
However the Roslea pressure finally paid off and McGuinness rapped in two neatly struck goals to put the skids under St Patricks.
It was not until the 25th minutes that St Patricks finally opened their account, a point from Shane O’Neill but McGuinness responded with his third goal strike and though the chasing side had closing points from Brian McDermott and Jamie Treacy, the game had slipped from them.
A flurry of scores on the resumption, McDermott for St Patricks and a trio from McGuinness made it an eleven point deficit.
Over the remaining twenty minutes a much superior Roslea added sporadic scores from James McMahon, James Boyle and Ciaran Cassidy with St Patricks answering with a score each from Jamie Treacy and Kevin Curran but the contest was now been played in a funereal atmosphere, the winners confidently dictating as they had done right from the early minutes.
Teams
Roslea
Dermot McAleer; Martin Beggan; Michael Beggan; James McMahon; Niall Beggan; Stephen Flynn; Dermot Reilly; Danny Mohan; Greg Connolly; James Boyle; Shane Lynch; Niall McMahon; Aaron Mulligan; Ryan McCormack; Ruairi McGuinness; Subs; Bartek Schubert; Ciaran Cassidy; John Connolly; Ciaran Maguire ; Brian Maguire; Gerry Sherlock;
St Patricks
Michael McGrade; Cahir McElroy; Phillip Mulligan; Shane Heany; Michael Montgomery; John Paul O’Reilly; Mark O’Reilly; Jamie Treacy; Sean Daly; Eugene Cadden; Shane McDermott; Kevin Curran; Shane O’Neill; Brian McDermott; Matthew McGrade; Subs ; Shay Cadden; Danny Sugrue;
Referee ; Nigel Sweeney; Belcoo.