Erne Gaels 0-09

Roslea 2-09

It has been quite a year for Roslea’s Sean Quigley and perhaps he could have been forgiven a late dip in form as Christmas fast approaches but the 23 year old shows no sign of taking the foot off the pedal.

In another virtuoso performance he kicked 2-06 of his teams 2-09 total and was the difference between the two sides as Roslea took another step towards a league final.

Shamrocks boss, Sean Bradley, was delighted with the win and gushing in his praise of Quigley.

“Sean was hard to handle. He's playing so well and it is not just the long high ball that he is winning. He is getting out in front as well and winning ball that way and working very hard for the team.”

The win means that another victory against Ederney this weekend will put Roslea into at least a play off for the league final although Bradley believes the clash with the St Joseph’s men will be hugely difficult;

“I have been very impressed with Ederney and they have been in super form of late. It will be tough but the lads who have come out and who are playing for Roslea really want to get to a league final and really want to play hard and their response has been excellent.”

For Erne Gaels meanwhile the loss leaves them with a mountain to climb to reach a league final and for their manager, Maurice McLaughlin, he is looking forward to seeing how they bounce back from Sunday’s defeat;

“We missed a lot of chances but as I have been saying all year this is a team in transition and we are still learning. And part of that is seeing how well you bounce back from disappointment and defeat and we have a big test now against Derrygonnelly this weekend.”

Erne Gaels started this game off the brighter of the two sides and they shot into an early three point lead thanks mainly to the accurate shooting of Ryan Lyons. They were playing well and dominating the break ball around the middle of the field but Roslea were always able to break forward and snatch scores at the other end, Quigley the chief supplier of these although Niall Cosgrove did get forward in each half to slot over points.

Erne Gaels had further first half scores from Brian Mullin and Ryan McCann and they went into the half two points to the good but in the second half their wayward shooting was to let them down as they hit only three of 13 attempts for white flags.

The home side however did go three in front with another Lyons point but that was as good as it got for them as Quigley hit 1-01 in the space of a few minutes to give Roslea a lead they would never lose. His goal came after he fielded a long ball before contorting himself into a shooting position to finish with his usual aplomb.

The rest of the half saw more point scoring from Quigley with Ryan McCann replying for Erne Gaels before Quigley wrapped things up with a penalty as the game entered its final minutes.

For Roslea Brendan Sherlock and Marty Renfrew in defence were solid throughout and Cosgrove in the middle of the field was enterprising. For Erne Gaels Gary O’Connor battled manfully in defence with Brian Mullin having a good battle with Cosgrove in the middle of the field.

It was to be Sean Quigley for the winners who was to steal the show yet again with the Roslea sharp shooter seeming to not want to say good bye to 2015 just yet.