Roslea survived a late Derrygonnelly rally to deservedly secure another reserve championship title. The win represents the Shamrocks fifth championship in a row with Seamus Quigley at his enigmatic best hitting 11 of his side’s 16 points.
The platform for the win was built inside the first ten minutes as Roslea raced into a 0-06 to 0-00 lead. Quigley accounted for five of those points with three coming from open play. Michael Jordan was the other Roslea scorer as they looked to be running away with the constant before a Derrygonnelly Barry McGrath free kick stopped the rot.
This score helped the Harps secure something of a foothold in the game. And of the next five scores Derrygonnelly were to hit three.
Aiden McKenna with a brace and Colm Jones with a fine effort from play were the Harps scorers while Roslea had excellent efforts from the strong running Brendan Sherlock and James McMahon. Sherlock and McMahon were two important figures for the winners throughout the sixty minutes and they both got on a lot of ball around the middle third and were threats moving forward.
The score was 0-08 to 0-04 at half time in favour of Roslea but it was to be Derrygonnelly who would reduce the deficit to the bare minimum when they were awarded a penalty not long after the restart.
Jonathan McGurn dispatched the spot kick to raise the Harps cheers. Those cheers had barely died down by the time Roslea had responded with two points of their own through a Seamus Quigley free and another McMahon point from play. Lee Jones responded for Derrygonnelly but the game was then to enter a crucial period with Quigley set to pay a starring role.
The former Fermanagh ace hit five points to push Roslea into a seven point lead. His scores were a combination of frees and efforts from play and he was proving exceedingly difficult for the Harps defence to handle.
At the other end McGurn was working hard for the Harps and he pointed along with Lee Jones to keep them in the hunt but Roslea were to come right back with another Sherlock point after he had been set up by McMahon.
From that position of authority with ten minutes remaining Roslea were to have an distinctly shaky finish to the game as the Harps came roaring back with a series of well taken scores. Six points down Derrygonnelly refused to accept that the game was beyond them and with the accurate Colm Jones leading the way they hit four points with a Jones brace and singles from Odhran McBrien and Lee Jones.
As the game entered injury time two points separated the sides as injury time came close. Colm Jones nailed another score to make it a one point game and Derrygonnnelly did have some half chances to tie up the game but they failed to find the target.
In the end Roslea just about deserved the win with their play in the first 50 minutes showing they were the dominant side. Their three main players, Quigley, Sherlock and McMahon hit 15 of their side’s 16 points. The Harps showed their determination to twice get back into the game when six points or more down but in the end they just didn’t have enough to reel in the Shamrocks.