GORMLEY uPVC SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

Magheracloone 1-16
Truagh 0-5

A Tomas Freeman inspired Magheracloone proved much too potent for Truagh in what turned out to be another very one-sided contest in this preliminary round game that was part of a double bill of senior championship action in Ballybay on Sunday evening last. In assessing this game though it must be seen that Truagh were fielding at less than full strength with players of the calibre of Noel Clerkin, Gary Feely and Damian McRory to name but three unavailable. They surely missed the presence of Noel Clerkin in their attack as they lacked their usual target man and in truth they never developed anything approaching a cohesive attacking game and the fact that they failed to register a single white flag in the entire first half tells its own story. That is not to say they did not have chances, as they did, but they registered seven wides during that period, a similar number to Magheracloone, but the Michells also registered seven points, mostly through the accuracy of Tomas Freeman who finished top scorer with nine points to his credit, six from frees. Truagh for their part had no such score taker in their lineout and it wasn't until the fourth minute of the second-half that they opened their account with a point from a free by midfielder and Neil McRory. In fact Mark Counihan was the only player of their six starting forwards who registered a score from play. Magheracloone dominated this game from start to finish with the exception of a short period in the opening 10 minutes of the second-half when Truagh registered three of their five points. Niall Babington at cornerback had an extremely effective hour for Magheracloone with James Ward putting in a strong first half but later withdrawn. Francis and Gavin Doogan by and large dominated midfield and Gavin Doogan's pace often saw him open up the Truagh defence to good effect. Paul Jones on the '40 along with Fintan Kindlon and Peter Tuite worked hard to keep the supply going in to Paudie Finnegan and Tomas Freeman in particular with Freeman also capitalising on a number of frees that their pressure earned. Truagh for their part probably did not entertain strong belief that they could win the championship but they will have been disappointed with their overall performance. Magheracloone on the other hand do entertain serious championship aspirations but this game will not have done very much to bring them on and even when they left Ballybay on Sunday evening they did not know whether it would be Monaghan Harps or Ballybay they would be meeting in the first round proper as their meeting on Saturday evening ended all square. This was a game where the fare on offer never rose to any great heights with the opening minutes resembling more a meaningless league fixture as mistakes abounded, chances were squandered by either being off target or dropping short to the keeper, the latter at both ends. Two points inside two minutes from frees by Tomas Freeman helped to settle Magheracloone down and they went on to lead by four points to no score at the end of the opening quarter, Peter Tuite and another Tomas Freeman free, for a late tackle on Francie Doogan, helping them to open up that lead. Tomas Freeman added another point in the 18th minute with Gavin Doogan then off target before truagh mounted a couple of sporadic attacks that failed to get them off the mark in the 22nd and 23rd minutes. With five minutes of normal time remaining another Truagh attack was broken up by James Ward who started and finished the counter attack that saw him extend Magheracloone's lead to six and with two minutes of normal time remaining Tomas Freeman converted another free, this time for a foul on James Hand to put Magheracloone seven points in front. Truagh did have two late chances to avoid a first half whitewash but they were wide of the target from a line ball with another effort by Daniel McKenna from a long-distance free also wide although he did have other options. Half-time score, Magheracloone 0-7, Truagh 0-0.
On the resumption Magheracloone picked up where they left off at the break with two quick points from Paul Jones and an excellent effort from Tomas Freeman following good work by Gavin Doogan and Fintan Kindlon. James Hand was off target from a '45 in the third minute before Truagh opened their account with a point from a free by Neil McRory in the fourth minute. Two minutes later Sean McKenna who came on as a sub at the start of the second-half brought the margin down to seven but only after a disputed call that saw the linesman advise the referee that in fact it was a point when one of his umpires had signaled wide. Another Truagh attack two minutes later saw Daniel McKenna fouled with Neil McRory converting the free to reduce the margin to six but any thoughts of a recovery were soon killed off as Magheracloone responded with a strong four minutes spell that yielded four points without reply from Fintan Kindlon in the 11th minute after he had got on the end of a long clearance by Niall Babbington, Paul Jones in the 17th minute after excellent work by Fintan Kindlon, Tomas Freeman with another excellent finish in the 14th minute when he was well placed from a quick free by James Hand and Paul Jones in the 15th minute after Tomas Freeman had played a line ball in to James Hand who placed Jones close in but he blasted over the bar. Paudie Finnegan and Paul Farnan had chances to extend Magheracloone's lead but failed to find the target as did Truagh's Daniel Finnegan when he was put through but blasted wide. Further misses at both ends were followed by another Tomas Freeman point to put Magheracloone 11 points in front and 11 points still separated the sides with four minutes of normal time remaining when the sides exchanged points between Daniel McKenna and Tomas Freeman, both from frees. The game was now being played almost at walking pace with Mark Counihan punishing indecisiveness in the Magheracloone defence to reduce the deficit to 10 but almost immediately Magheracloone were back on the attack when Niall Babington again cleared his lines to find Tomas Freeman who placed Paul Jones and this time the centre half forward made no mistake for a 15 points lead. In the final minutes of normal time Magheracloone substitute Brian Morris had the final score to leave for a situation where 14 points separated the sides when Brendan Walsh blew the full-time whistle.
Teams and Scorers: Magheracloone: Pauric Doogan, Niall Babbington, Peter ward, Michael Jones, David Freeman, James ward 0-1, Paul farnan, Francis doogan, Gavin Doogan, Fintan Kindlon 0-1, Paul Jones 1-3, Peter Tuite 0-1, James Hand, Paudie Finnegan, Tomas Freeman 0-9 (5f). Subs: Keith Gilsenan for P Finnegan, Noel Tuite for J Ward, Brian Morris 0-1 for D Freeman, Cieran Duffy for T Freeman.
Truagh: Anthony Treanor, Niall Coyle, Rory Treanor, Darren Todd, John McCarron, Niall McQuillan, Pauric Treanor, Neil McRory 0-2 (2f), Barry Cuddy, John Treanor, Danile McKenna 0-1 (f), Niall Mc Meel, Mark Counihan 0-1, Alan McKenna, Daniel Finnegan. Subs: Sean McKenna 0-1 for A McKenna, Christopher McKenna for J Treanor. Referee: Brendan Walshe (Ballybay). Tweet

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