Intermediate Championship Round 2
Belturbet 2-11
Killeshandra 3-3
Belturbet defeated Killeshandra in terrible weather conditions on Saturday evening last in Round 2 of the Intermediate Championship in O'Connell Park, Milltown.
The Rorys had to overcome the concession of two penalties and the first half dismissal of Fionan O'Reilly to pick up a vital win after suffering a first round loss to Ballyhaise.
Padraig Dolan's side dominated the early exchanges of the match hitting three early wides and Conor Vaughan was denied by a fine save from Joe Masterson in the sixth minute from a one on one goal chance. Cormac Donohoe floated over Belturbet's first point in the eight minute after Mark Teevan and Shane Fitzpatrick had linked up. Donal McDonald then added to the Rorys tally a minute later after Conor Vaughan's fine assist. Fionan O'Reilly's fine fetch in the middle of the park laid on Belturbet's third point with Conor Vaughan arrowing over a point from the right hand wing with the minimum of fuss to leave his side 0-3 to 0-0 ahead with 10 minutes gone.
Belturbet moved four points clear when Shane Fitzpatrick and Enda Henry played a one two with Henry firing over the black spot. Killeshandra having played second fiddle for long spells of the first period hit Belturbet with a sucker punch when they were awarded a penalty in the 21st minute. Daniel Luby tucked the spot kick under the body of Cian Vaughan to leave a solitary point between the sides.
Belturbet responded well to the concession of the goal with Conal McGinley dissecting the posts a minute later to move Belturbet two points clear. The Rorys were dealt a big blow when Fionan O'Reilly was dismissed after 26 minutes having picked up a yellow and then a black card.
Belturbet midfielder Mark Teevan who enjoyed a fine game in the engine room played a terrific free over the Killeshandra defence and into the path of Enda Henry who raced through on the Killeshandra goal before slipping his shot under the body of Joe Masterson and into the net with 29 minutes gone.
Wing back John Cahill then received a black card with Luke Smith entering the fray. Austin Fitzpatrick
kicked Killeshandra's sole point of the first half two minutes into stoppage time to leave the Leaguers
trailing at the half time interval by 1-5 to 1-1.
Killeshandra made a dream start to the second half with Austin Fitzpatrick hammering to the back of the Belturbet net after a high ball in dropped invitingly into his path. Tomas O'Reilly then went on a mazy solo run before curling over a point to tie the game for the first time with 36 minutes gone at 1-5 to 2-2.
Belturbet hit a real purple patch to move into a nine point lead as the rain continued to hammer down in the second half which made for very poor underfoot conditions with a lot of players losing their footing. Mark Teevan provided his second goal assist in the 37th minute with a wonderfully flighted ball into the Killeshandra square where the towering Eoin McGuigan rose highest to punch to the net.
Donohoe and Fitzpatrick linked up again to feed Conor Vaughan who notched his second point as the Rorys began to pin the Leaguers back with their running game punching holes in their rearguard. Conal McGinley then had a great mini spell converting a 41st minute free and a 45th minute 45 before arcing over a terrific point off the left hand wing with 47 minutes gone to leave Belturbet with a commanding 2-9 to 2-2 lead. Stuart Dunne who had a fine game in defence linked up with Shane Fitzpatrick who attacked at will during the game and the ball was eventually sprayed out to Enda Henry who clipped over with 50 minutes gone to extend the advantage out to eight points. Henry then nailed a free a minute later as Belturbet continued to make light of being a man down. Killeshandra were awarded asecond penalty by Martin Sexton in the 53rd minute and Daniel Luby made no mistake again thrashing the ball into the roof of Cian Vaughan's net. Eoin Brady's 56th minute free reduced Killeshandra's deficit down to five points. Joe Masterson made a tremendous save to deny Eoin McGuigan from notching his second goal in the 59th minute as he made a fine save with his feet.
Belturbet: Cian Vaughan, Stuart Dunne, Peter Shannon, Kevin McConnell, Shane Fitzpatrick, Niall O'Reilly, John Cahill, Fionan O'Reilly, Mark Teevan, Enda Henry (1-3 1f), Cormac Donohoe (0-1), Donal McDonald (0-1), Conor Vaughan (0-2), Eoin McGuigan (1-0), Conal McGinley (0-4 1f, 1 45). Subs: Luke Smith, Niall Lawlor, John Joe Collins.
Killeshandra: Joe Masterson, James Dinneny, Damien Higgins, Michael O'Reilly, Luke Bevis, Darragh Tighe, Conor O'Reilly, Tomas O'Reilly(0-1), Aaron Brady, Shane O'Reilly, Daniel Luby (2-0 2 Pen), Darren O'Hanlon, Sean McKiernan, Austin Fitzpatrick(1-1), Eoin Brady(0-1 1f). Sub: Cein Sweeney.
Referee: Martin Sexton.
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