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Reds pointing in the right direction

DOWN ACFL DIVISION ONE – MATCHDAY SEVEN
RGU DOWNPATRICK 0-11 – 0-16 ROSTREVOR

By Kieran McNally

Rostrevor moved above RGU Downpatrick in the league standings with a comfortable victory at Pairc Tómas Ruseil on Wednesday evening.

The Reds were able to link together the points to ensure that their early season impressions were finally rewarded with a second league win and quite a vital one it could turn out to be.

rostrevor18Conor Magee, John Fegan and Shaun Parr; among others, were all in superb form throughout the hour, as Stefan White’s side took advantage of the starred fixture to punish the Hoops and ease to a five-point win in the county town.

Impressively, Rostrevor had nine different scorers on the night with all of their points coming from play.

This contest represented the first in a series of an upcoming series of high-pressure tests for both sides and the two points were really needed to provide a platform on which to build for the second half of the season.

Downpatrick’s chief scoring threat of the night came in the form of Michael Magee at full-forward and his accurate frees; in particular, kept the hosts in the game for long periods.

He fired over the opening point of the night in the 2nd minute, but a left sided response from Rostrevor’s Damian Magee; followed by Jonathan Parr’s 45-yard free, ensured that the Reds were able to settle early.

The majority of the first half was played at a hectic pace with both teams enjoying scoring opportunities, so it came as little surprise that neither could initially take control of the scoreboard.

Michael Magee brought the scores level, before a chain of four points; shared between the same man and Rostrevor’s excellent Conor Magee had the scores at 0-4 each by the 22nd minute.

The winning of the contest for Rostrevor came in the closing stages of the opening half, as they were able to string together five out of the final six points before the short whistle.

John Fegan set them on the way with an effort from range before another fine score from Conor Magee doubled the advantange. Damian Magee sent over a near replica of his earlier point in the 27th minute and; whilst Eoin Boyle did respond for RGU, a further score from Conor Magee and a fisted point from Sean Cooper had the Reds leading by four at the interval.

HALF TIME – RGU DOWNPATRICK 0-05 – 0-09 ROSTREVOR

Rostrevor’s gradual dominance at midfield was starting to tell with possession being filtered through the middle third with some ease beyond the opening quarter of the match and that trend continued in the second half, as the Reds really ought to have put their hosts out of sight.

Conor Doyle was integral as two scores arrived early on the restart; as he set Jordan Fegan through for a point before linking well with John Fegan, as the latter popped over from close range.

Neal Cunningham sent over a free to keep the Hoops alive, but Conor Magee restored the six-point lead with a well-taken point. Despite being in control at this stage, Rostrevor were guilty of missing chances that may have come back to haunt them with two fisted efforts missing the target when potential goal chances were on; indeed one such effort from Jordan Fegan dipped below the crossbar.

It did seem for a moment that Downpatrick were maybe going to capitalise on these missed chances with two frees; from Michael Magee and Neal Cunningham, dragging the deficit back down to four points with fifteen minutes left to play; 0-8 to 0-12.

However, Rostrevor were able close out the game in the closing quarter and ease to victory. Conor Fegan found the target, quickly followed by Conor Doyle’s deserved point in the 52nd minute, as the Reds moved clear again.

Michael Magee responded, but John Fegan’s third point of the evening; this time from an extremely tight angle, restored a six-point lead. Eoin Boyle and Tomas Mulholland swapped points towards the end of normal time, as the clock breezed down to a rather comfortable Rostrevor win; despite Michael Magee’s late consolation free.

Stefan White’s men thoroughly deserved the victory on the night and it perhaps provides some reward for what had been a season of near-misses to this point.

Next Friday’s home encounter with newly-promoted Clann na Banna represents the next opportunity to get league points on the board, however, it is a must win clash once more with both teams looking for their first brace of wins. RGU visit a confident Ballyholland Harps side.

RGU SCORERS; Michael Magee (0-7 5f), Eoin Boyle and Neal Cunningham (0-2f each).

ROSTREVOR SCORERS; Conor Magee (0-5), John Fegan (0-3), Damian Magee (0-2), Conor Doyle, Conor Fegan, Tomas Mulholland, Sean Cooper, Jonathan Parr and Jordan Fegan (0-1 each).

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Posted by on Jun 8 2015. Filed under Community, Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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