Gowna 2-13
Crosserlough 0-12

Gowna delivered a dominant second-half display to down Crosserlough on Sunday afternoon at Kingspan Breffni and pick up their first win in this year's senior championship.

Robbie Fitzpatrick and Niall Madden fired in the all important goals for Liam Higgins's men as they bounced back from their first round loss to Killygarry with an impressive performance which had their opponents struggling to match them in several departments.

The first-half hadn't shown any signs of seven points separating the sides when all was said and done, as they went in at half-time dead-locked off the back of an even opening 30 minutes, but Gowna kicked it up afterwards and Fitzpatrick's splendid strike in the 41st minute put them on the way.

Eoin Cusack's free had Crosserlough up and running inside three minutes but they'd fall behind after Conor Madden slotted over a brace of points in the space of four minutes at the town end goal.

Ryan O'Reilly and Shane McVeety soon had the men donned in black and amber back in the ascendency though, with O'Reilly drilling over a '45' to cancel out Conor Brady's fine point on the quarter hour mark.

The ding-dong battle ensued with TJ Fitzpatrick having his hat-trick of points (two were from frees) erased by Stephen Smith, Mark Stewart and Shane McManus all finding their range at the far end prior to Shane McVeety being denied the net after a superb block by Andrew Dewart.

McManus gave Crosserlough back the lead on 29 minutes but some good work from Mark McKeever afforded Conor Brady the time and space to sail over his second in the added minutes, leaving it all square on 0-8 each at the halfway stage.

The opening 10 minutes of the second-half belonged to Gowna but they simply couldn't make it count on the scoreboard, tallying eight wides in-a-row before Dara McVeety landed his sole point for the afternoon in what was Crosserlough's first genuine attack since the interval.

Higgins's side responded in the best possible fashion and wouldn't trail again once Robbie Fitzpatrick pulled off some excellent work to fist past 'keeper Anthony Smith, having been knocked to the ground by his marker and improvising brilliantly to make sure the green flag was raised.

Points from Paul Langtry and Robbie Fitzpatrick (free) upped the Longford border outfit's lead to three, with Pierce Smith having sent over a placed ball at the other end, and they'd double that advantage with a little less than 10 minutes of regulation remaining.

Conor Madden's pass inside to his sibling Niall allowed the full-forward to creep in past Crosserlough's rear guard and he made no mistake with the finish, rifling the ball to the top corner of Smith's net much to the delight of the Gowna contigent.

There was no coming back for Daragh McCarthy's charges after that, despite quick points from Pierce Smith (free) and David Shalvey in response, as the victors finished the job through more scores from sharpshooters Conor Madden (2, 1 a free) and Robbie Fitzpatrick to underline their dominance during the second 30-minute period.

Crosserlough were left chasing goals in the late stages but they'd never come their way, with young full-forward O'Reilly seeing black just prior to the final whistle.

Gowna: Ronan Bannon; David Phillips, Ryan McGahern, Brendan Madden; Paul Langtry (0-1), Conor Brady (0-1), Andrew Dewart; Raymond Keogh, Conor Madden (0-4, 1f); Ciaran Brady (0-1), Robbie Fitzpatrick (1-2, 1f), David Hyland; TJ Fitzpatrick (0-4, 2f), Niall Madden (1-0), Mark McKeever. Subs: Gerald Pearson for D Hyland (40mins), Damien Halton for C Brady (50), Shane Hartin for P Langtry (56).

Crosserlough: Anthony Smith; Karl Lynch, Colin Lynch, Paddy O'Reilly; Mark Stewart (0-1), Dara McVeety (0-1), Paul McEvoy; Conor Rehill, Eoin Cusack (0-1, 1f); David Shalvey (0-1), Pierce Smith (0-2, 2f), Shane McVeety (0-1); Shane McManus, Ryan O'Reilly (0-2, 1 '45'), Stephen Smith (0-1). Subs: Eoin Smith for S McManus (36mins), Darren Gaffney for S Smith (44), Adrian Smith for S McVeety (50), Kevin Smith for M Stewart (55), James McEvoy for E Cusack (60).

Ref: Pat Clarke (Killinkere)

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