Allianz National Hurling League Division 2B: Down 1-21 Roscommon 1-16
THERE’S nothing quite like a bit of ‘Magic’ to get you over the line.
Once the imposing figure of Gareth ‘Magic’ Johnson, who came out of retirement last week, was thrust from the Down bench in the 55th minute, Roscommon’s gutsy second half challenge was about to run its course.
In truth, the Ardsmen were already turning the screw on the Connacht men before ‘Magic’ entered the fray.
Captain Danny Toner had landed his eighth free of the day to put the home side 0-15 to 0-13 ahead but the bustling Johnson made sure of Down’s first League points of the new season by hitting 1-1 in the final 10 minutes.
Afterwards, the affable six-footer politely – almost apologetically - declined to be interviewed, insisting his days of talking were “over”.
And even though the Ballygalget clubman still looks some way short of being fit to last a full 70 minutes of inter-county hurling, his manager was delighted with his contribution at full-forward.
“He gave us a bit of a spark when he came on,” said a buoyant Marty Mallon.
Down's Sean Ennis holds off Roscommon's John Coyle during the Division 2B Allianz Hurling League clash at Ballycran
“He caught the two or three balls that came in and he stuck one of them in the net. He gives us presence in there and it’s something we’ve been certainly missing.”
Mallon added: “He’s back and he’s training hard. He’s going to give it a good lash. We’ve got everybody we want.”
Hammered out the gates of Pairc Tailteann by Meath last weekend, Down made a half-dozen changes to their starting line-up in Ballycran yesterday.
Experienced defender, and sweeper for the day, Conor Woods gave more order to Down’s back-line as did 2016 Christy Ring Allstar John McManus.
Portaferry’s Conor O’Prey made a big difference in the middle of the field too, firing over three points from play, while industrious wing-forward Malachy Magee, a late change to the home side’s starting team, was excellent and registered two crucial scores in the second half.
After a period away from the senior set-up, Eoghan Sands proved his worth in the Down attack.
Despite being under physical siege yesterday, the wiry Portaferry corner-forward enjoyed some fine moments and the last of his three points in the closing stages was one to savour.
With an 11-point haul (10 frees), Toner top-scored for the Ardsmen and managed to banish the memory of a few bad first-half wides.
Roscommon, under new manager Johnny Kelly of Galway, were holding their own in a point-for-point first half.
The Rossies mustered just two points from play in their shattering 2-17 to 0-7 opening day loss to Wicklow last weekend.
By the seventh minute of yesterday's clash, they’d beaten that statistic when Jason Kilkenny bagged Roscommon’s third point to nudge 0-3 to 0-2 ahead.
Roving attacker Naos Connaghton hit three sublime scores from breaking balls for the Rossies in the opening period, while it took the first quarter for Michael Hughes and Woods to snare lively full-forward Robbie Fallon.
Three bad misses towards the end of the first half – one apiece from Toner (free), Magee and Sands – seemed to galvanise the visitors as they carried in an unlikely 0-9 to 0-8 interval lead.
But with the familiar advantage of playing with a slight slope in the second half, Down always looked capable of recovering.
O’Prey and Magee hit monster scores in the 40th and 41st minutes and although Fallon replied with a pair of frees to level the game at 0-12 apiece after 44 minutes, Toner didn’t look like missing any placed balls for Down in the second period.
Sands always carried a scoring threat and Magee began finding more room too.
And once the Down management team threw their ace on the table – in the guise of ‘Magic’ Johnson’s introduction with 15 minutes remaining – Roscommon looked a beaten docket.
Johnson clipped over a point to put Down 0-18 to 0-14 ahead after 61 minutes and he rippled the Roscommon net six minutes later after a mazy run and off-load from Sands.
“We let Roscommon hang in too long today,” admitted Mallon.
“Every time we went a few points up we let them back in… Roscommon played with seven defenders and it was very, very difficult to break that down in the first half.
“We shot 1-21 but we should have been up around 1-30. I thought we were much better than them the more we ran at them. But it’s a win and we’re up and running.”
Substitute Adrian Murphy scrambled an injury-time major for Roscommon to make it a three-point game but Magee and Sands tagged on late scores to ram home Down’s advantage.
“We had Down under pressure at times,” said Roscommon boss Johnny Kelly, who also bemoaned the perceived lack of support from the GAA for development counties.
“It was technical mistakes that cost us, but I’m proud of the players and I’d admire them for their effort.
“We were in a bad place after last week’s defeat against Wicklow. We’re missing eight or nine players from last year’s team. That’s a huge amount of players to lose in any terms...
“There are a lot of good hurlers in this League and you could see the Down players had physicality and they could work the ball around the field.
“But do the GAA do enough and help the development counties? I would say ‘no’ from my brief involvement so far.”
Down: S Keith; J McManus, M Hughes, S Ennis; J McGrath, C Woods, M Ennis; C O’Prey (0-3), D McManus (0-1); C Egan, C Teggart, C Baillie; E Sands (0-3), M McGeehan (0-2), D Toner (0-11, 0-0 frees) Subs: C Mageean for C Teggart (43), G Johnson (1-1) for C Baillie (55), R Brannigan for C Egan (65)
Yellow cards: D McManus (10), S Ennis (55), J McGrath (73)
Roscommon: J Fallon; M Byrne, D Loughnane, P Nolan; S Curley (0-2 frees), E Flanagan, P Kellaghan; C Coyle, H Rooney; A Finnerty, J Coyne (0-1), J Kilkenny (0-2); C Kenny (0-1); R Fallon (0-6, 0-5 frees), N Connaughton (0-4) Subs: A Murphy (1-0) for C Kenny (29), G Egan for C Coyle (50), C Kenny for R Fallon (69)
Yellow cards: P Kelleghan (3), J Kilkenny (50), N Connaughton (65), H Rooney (67)
Referee: K Brady (Louth)
Allianz National Hurling League Division 2B: Meath 2-19 Derry 0-16
DERRY finished with 12 men as they went down to a nine-point defeat to Meath at Pairc Tailteann yesterday.
Referee Alfie Devine brandished four red cards in total as the Oak Leafers found their numerical disadvantage too much to contend with in the second half.
Derry lost Kevin Hinphey 10 minutes into the second half at a time when they had forged ahead after trailing by three points. However, the Dungiven man can have no real complaints following his attempted challenge on Meath goalscorer Adam Gannon.
Midway through the second half Derry lost John O’Dwyer and Meath saw Keith Keoghan depart following a melee that involved about 20 players, while Derry completed the hat-trick of red cards when Eugene McGuckin collected a second yellow with five minutes remaining.
Meath welcomed Christy Ring Cup-winning captain James Toher back to midfield after his outing with the footballers against Derry the previous week while the Oak Leafers made some late changes due to the absence Paul Cleary, Brian Og McGilligan and Paddy Henry.
Daragh Cartin, John O’Dwyer and Liam Og Hinphey came into the side.
Meath were always on the front foot in the opening half despite playing into a moderate wind and they were ahead 0-11 to 0-8 at the interval.
That advantage could have been greater if Steven Clynch had converted a 24th minute penalty but his effort was deflected over the bar by Derry goalkeeper Daryl McDermott.
It was one of four Clynch points during the opening half with a brace apiece from Sean Quigley and James Kelly, while Anthony Forde and Neil Heffernan also pointed.
For Derry, there was usual contribution from Ruairi Convery who converted four frees and added one point from play along with Cartin, Gavin McCormack and Aaron Kelly.
Derry also created two goal chances, but on each occasion Shane McGann saved smartly from Oisin McCloskey and McCormack. Derry raised the tempo for the second half and Alan Grant got them off the mark with an early point.
Further points from John O’Dwyer and Convery drew the sides level by the 40th minute.
Grant then gave Derry the lead for the first time as they capitalised on a period of dominance, but Meath eventually got going when Gannon sent over and tied the scores at 0-12 each before another Grant point restored Derry’s lead. That was as good as it got for Derry and it all went downhill after that.
Gannon got through for goal, which Hinphey’s red card challenge couldn’t prevent but Derry battled back to parity with well-taken points from Kelly (two) and Oisin McCloskey.
That melee then erupted and each side lost a man and, as the battle for supremacy raged, it was Meath’s James Kelly who sent over an important point.
It got better for Meath when McGuckin departed the Derry team on a second yellow that could have been a straight red.
The remainder was predictable with Meath substitute Peter Farrell adding a goal to a series of closing points from Quigley (two), Kevin Keena, Clynch and Gary Kelly.
Meath: S McGann; S Geraghty, S Whitty, C Reilly; S Brennan, D Healy, K Keoghan; A Forde (0-2), J Toher; S Quigley (0-4), C McCabe (0-1), J Kelly (0-3); S Clynch (0-5 0-3 frees), A Gannon (1-1), N Heffernan (0-1).
Subs: K Keena (0-1) for McCabe (h-t), G Kelly (0-1) for Brennan (h-t), P Farrell (1-0) for Heffernan 52, D Reilly for C Reilly 65, P Kelly for Healy 68.
Derry: D McDermott; P Turner, S McCullagh, D McCloskey; C Steele, K Hinphey, L Óg Hinphey; D Cartin (0-1), O McCloskey (0-1); J O’Dwyer (0-1), G McCormack (0-2), A Grant (0-2); A Kelly (0-3), R Convery (0-6 0-4 frees), E McGuckin.
Subs: T McCloskey for L Og Hinphey 49, S Farren for Cartin 63, D Cartin for McCormack 66, T McGee for McCloskey (70) T O’Kane for Grant (70).
Referee: A Devine (Westmeath).
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