Rosslea can count themselves unlucky that they also are not in the quarters as they should have defeated Newtown in their opening game in the round robin series but they showed in their two championship games that they are a good enough side for this level of football and that perhaps the performances that they have put in during the league so far, have not shown their true quality.

    Teemore have proved to be Roslea’s bogey team down through the years in the championship and this trend continued again on Sunday. There was little between the sides throughout the game but the winning of the game was probably in the performance of the Teemore defence which was exceptional for the duration of the match, first to the ball on most occasions.

    By the time the match had got to half time Teemore had carved themselves out a two point lead with scores at 1-05 to 0-06. The crucial score of the half came from minor star Ciaran O’Reilly who in the 17th minute was able to find the back of the net. Rosslea were really chasing the game from here and found that they were never able to close the gap. O’Reilly was tormentor in chief for Teemore in the first half and added two points to his goal both of these coming from frees. Teemore’s other scorers in the first half included two points from Declan Reilly and a point from Declan Fitzpatrick.

    Rosslea lined out on Sunday with four of the Sherry brothers in their team and one of these, Eamon, was among their point scorers in the first half. Eighteen year old Ryan McCormack who was making his championship debut was a revelation in the opening half helping himself to two points as did Johnny Mulligan. Colm Connolly was the other point scorer for Roslea in the first half. Midfield was proving a problem for Rosslea and they found it hard to make any progress in this sector as Pauric Maguire and Barry Owens were in exceptional form especially in the second half.

    A master stroke by the Teemore management team probably saw the winning of the game. Hugh Brady who was easily man of the match moved to full back to pick up the dangerous Colm Connolly and time and again he managed to break up the Rosslea attacks especially in the later stages of the encounter when the Teemore defence were under pressure.

    The teams traded points in the second half with Ciaran O’Reilly top scoring again for Teemore knocking over a further three points. Substitute Benny Reilly and Eugene Wynne also pointed for Teemore in the second half.

    A contentious incident in the game as far as Rosslea was concerned was the disallowing of a goal with the umpire claiming that the ball had not crossed the line.

    Teemore’s tackling in the second period was of a high standard often forcing Rosslea to shoot from long distance under pressure and they gave away very few scoreable frees.

    Johnny Mulligan was again among the points for Roslea with two. Colm Connolly also added two points while sub Niall Cassidy knocked over Rosslea’s final score.

    In the dying stages of the encounter a dangerous ball seemed to be on its way to Colm Connolly but Hugh Brady was once again was on hand to intercept and save the day for Teemore. This was one of the final actions of the game as Teemore held on for a two point victory.

    For Teemore the best performers were Brady and O’Reilly with the midfield also sound throughout.