Westville Hotel Senior Football League Div 1
Teemore 1-21 Belnaleck 0-20
A BLISTERING first-half performance was key for Teemore as they made it five wins from six games on Friday night with a four-point victory over Belnaleck at St Mary’s Park.
Tony Collins’ charges have been in impressive form so far this season and they raced into a strong 1-14 to 0-07 half-time lead with Eoin McManus kicking four challenging two-point frees.
Despite being without their talismanic forward Oisin Murphy, who is sidelined after picking up an ACL injury, Teemore made a strong start to the game with McManus and Sean McNally pointing.
Che Cullen got Belnaleck off the mark after five minutes, before McManus, who for many seasons has proved he’s one of the most clinical in the game, kicked over a two-point free.
Cullen kicked another for the Shamrocks, before Belnaleck’s Garvan Quigley, who finished the game with an impressive 10-point tally, kicked the first of his four two-point frees to level.
Lee Cullen and Bryan Owens then scored for Belnaleck, with Colm McNally and Aaron Lee replying with points for Teemore to level the game with sixteen minutes played.
Ronan McCaffrey and McManus (two-pointer) pushed Teemore three in front, before Belnaleck pegged them back with a two-point free from Quigley and a point from Darragh McGurn.
McManus landed another two-point free and Seán McNally also split the posts. He then struck for the game’s only goal, capitalising on a poor Belnaleck kickout, before firing to the net.
McManus brought the half to an end with another two-pointer, putting them 10 up at the break.
Belnaleck needed a response after the interval and they got that with Che Cullen, Quigley and Peter Monaghan landing successive scores to reduce the deficit to seven points.
McCaffrey, who was engaged in an intriguing battle with county colleague Che Cullen, added another for the Shamrocks, along with Cian McManus, to put them back to nine ahead.
With 43 minutes played, Darragh McGurn lofted over a good two-point free for Belnaleck, with Quigley also kicking two scores, one from a free, to bring the game back to just five points.
McGurn and McCaffrey then traded scores as the game entered the final ten minutes.
Dara McManus put Teemore six ahead, with Belnaleck rallying through a Quigley two-pointer.
Quigley pointed another good two-point free from range to leave two between the sides as the Art MacMurrough’s pushed forward in search of a goal, with just three minutes remaining.
The Belnaleck side weren’t able to find the opportunity though with Teemore kicking three late scores through Cian McManus and two from Colm McNally to wrap up a deserved victory.
On Friday, Teemore host Irvinestown at St Mary’s Park, while Belnaleck take on Derrygonnelly.