Four Roads hit excellent form
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
SKIP, HOP AND JUMP......Four Roads' Michael Kelly pictured in action in the Senior Hurling Championship at Athleague on Saturday evening.
Four Roads 2-16 Roscommon Gaels 0-8.
FOUR ROADS sent a clear message to all possible opponents in the county senior hurling championships that they are coming into form and showed it in a big way with a demolition job over Roscommon Gaels at Athleague on Saturday evening.
The Gaels did all that they could do but they simply had no answer to the defending county champions who were quite clinical over the hour.
To be honest, this game was all but over by half time. Four Roads were simply too good for a Gaels team who failed to score in the first twenty six minutes. By then Four Roads were ten points clear and cruising. Johnny Coyne had opened the scoring with a point before Jamie Lawlor added a point following a mazy run. They could have also got a goal when Coyne collected a pass from David Dolan but his shot was stopped brilliantly by Roscommon Gaels full back Eoin Browne.
The game had reached the end of the first quarter when Michael Kelly tapped over following a pass from Shane Curley and one could feel that already the game was moving away from the Gaels. Three Michael Kelly points was followed by a goal from Coyne. The full forward getting two bites at the cherry before blasting past John Comiskey. A further point from Enda Rogerson had Four Roads ten points clear before Roscommon Gaels got their first point of the game. The point coming from Gary Waldron, finally getting his reward for some thankless work in the early stages.
However, it would not spark a comeback as Four Roads continued to dominate up to half time. Two points from David Dolan and one from Benny Mannion extended the lead to twelve points. A lead they would have at the break.
There were strong words in the Roscommon Gaels dressing room at half time but Four Roads would continue where they left off with a free from Lawlor before Waldron pulled a point back with a free. From there on it was a case of teams swapping points with the defending county champions able to go through the gears when needed. Mannion and Waldron swapped points early in the second half before Padraig Mulry, in goal instead of David Dowd, was called on to make a good save. Sub John Moran scored a good point to extend his side's lead and Michael Kelly got another point before the Gaels went through a resurgence of sorts, all down to Gary Waldron who scored three points in row. It would be their last chance to close the gap, as Four Roads would go on to find the net one more time in the second half. The goal came with seven minutes left in the game and it started on the Four Roads thirteen metre line and ended when Lawlor created the space to get behind the Gaels' full back to fire home. They almost got a third when John Rogerson and David Dolan combined to send Kelly through only for his shot to go narrowly wide. Waldron never gave up and added two points to the Roscommon Gaels total but that would conclude the Roscommon Gaels scoring as Four Roads closed out their scoring with a point from Michael Kelly.
With this win Four Roads are in a very strong position ahead of the county semi-finals and on this form it will take some team to stop them
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