Belgooly 0-15, Shamrocks 0-7
Shamrocks slow start to the football season continued at heavy Shanbally (bottom pitch) on Saturday afternoon last. The players were kept in the dressing room after the poor show against Ballygarvan last time out; this time it was the turn of them being kept on the pitch to listen to the extreme disappointement of manager Pat McCarthy and fellow selectors.
Just like last time out, Shamrocks actually started very brightly and played some lovely football inside the first 10 minutes and were rewarded with scores from Cannice Caffrey from frees (our main scorer from frees throughout) and a fine point from Sephen Keane, who started on fire. But Belgooly’s strong running and greater fitness on the heavy surface then came into play. They went 4 points to 2 ahead before Shamrocks fought back to level the game at 5 points all at the short whistle.
Shamrocks played up the hill in the second hafl and it was going to take a big effort to hold off Belgooly. But it wasnt to be, nowhere near it in fact. The display was limp. The teams swopped early points before Belgooly took over completely for the rest of the game and were unlucky not to add a goal or three.
Shamrocks meanwhile at the other end were finding it difficult to even creat point scoring opportunities as most moves just broke down around the 45. Result – Belgooly, a team who played Junior B 6 months ago, tagged over multiple points (split by Caffreys free). The game was over a long way out and a most disappointing afternoon for the home team was complete.
Team: F. O’Neill, S. Andrews, C. Kidney, J. Browne, M. O’Neill, M. Prout, J. Tuohy. B. Sweeney, B. Mulqueen, E. O’Mahony, S. Keane, C. Caffrey, S. O’Neill, A. McCarthy, T. O’Mahony. Subs used – D. O’Neill, S. Jordan, J. Raleigh.
There’s a break now for a few weeks for the hurling.
