Roslea 2-13 Enniskillen 4-12

Goals were decisive for Enniskillen on Sunday night as they came away from Roslea with the spoils to set up a clash with Kinawley next Saturday to decide which of them tops Group B and secures that automatic spot in the semi-final.

Roslea will feel that they should have been in front at the break but goals from Eoin Beacom and Brandon Horan helped Enniskillen to a scarcely deserved one point advantage at the interval.

The visitors though had the better of the second half exchanges, moving six clear by the 40th minute and although the Shamrocks kept battling, the Gaels always had a cushion as they saw it out to make it two wins out of two.

Enniskillen manager Simon Bradley knows it is another big one this Saturday against Kinawley with the winner sealing top spot in the group, and he feels that it is something that both sides will be keen on.

“It’s a big game as both teams will want that week break that comes with getting straight into the semi-final.

“We know it will be a tough, I watched Kinawley last week against Ederney and they were impressive. The two Corrigans are obviously influential for them but they also had five or six others who stepped up,” said Bradley.

On the win over Roslea, Bradley was pleased with how efficient his side were in front of the posts in the second half.

“I thought the boys showed maturity at half time. They knew they were fortunate to be ahead at the break but the response in the second half was very good and we were quite clinical in the second half which was good to see,” he added.

The Shamrocks now face a crunch encounter against Ederney and Roslea manager Eamonn Kavanagh believes it will come down to who performs on the day.

“There has been little in any of the games in the group and I don’t think there will be a pile in it on Saturday. It is about who performs and whoever takes their chances and is more clinical. It is a winner takes all,” he said.

Kavanagh though feels he can take a lot of positives from the display against Enniskillen.

“There were aspects of it that we were pleased with and we can take positives from. I felt we competed well and we didn’t compete in the league. We went in a point down at half time but we should have been ahead, we kicked nine wides in the first half and a few into the keepers hands. They got goals though at vital times and they were fairly slick going forward, especially in the second half,” he commented.

Having lost their opening game, Roslea came into this home game looking to make their mark.

And they more than held their own in the early stages with Seamus Quigley registering the first score of the contest from a free before Eoin Beacom levelled with a well struck free from the right.

Sean Quigley and Seamus Quigley though followed up with two quickfire points to make it 0-03 to 0-01.

However, Enniskillen plundered their opening goal to get their noses in front in the 15th minute. A sweeping move from deep in their own half resulted in Conor McShea feeding the ball across the goal for Beacom to palm to the net.

The Shamrocks answered with a further Seamie Quigley free but they were then rocked by a second Enniskillen goal. Jonny Cassidy broke from deep out, which was a feature of Enniskillen’s game, and he played in Brandon Horan who strode forward before firing a low effort that Roslea goalkeeper Danny Mohan could not keep out despite getting a hand to it.

In fairness to Roslea they regrouped and Brendan Sherlock knocked over from play before Seamus Quigley converted a free to leave it 2-01 to 0-06 at the break.

The Gaels moved two ahead on the resumption as Beacom blasted over but Roslea replied with points from play from Seamus Quigley and Sean Quigley to level things up five minutes into the second half.

It was game on at this stage but Enniskillen moved up through the gears to hit 1-03 in a five minute spell to quickly put a sizeable gap between the sides.

Beacom produced a lovely flick to put McShea through on goal and he finished soccer style to the back of the net. This was quickly followed by a Conor Love point before John Reihill landed a free and a mark to make it 3-05 to 0-08.

Just when it seemed that the away side would ease away, back came Roslea with a goal of their own, Seamus Quigley got on the end of a long ball and his palmed effort went across the goal where Shane Lynch punched it to the back of the net to cut the deficit to three.

Love, who had a fine second half, knocked over two points for Enniskillen, sandwiching one from Lynch, while John Reihill knocked over a free to put the Gaels five ahead, 3-08 to 1-09.

Roslea though refused to go away and Sean Quigley and Niall Cosgrove accounted for scores for the home side to leave three points dividing the sides moving into the final ten minutes.

Enniskillen then suffered a blow when Reihill picked up a second yellow but two points in two minutes from Love pushed the Gaels five in front once more.

James McMahon and Seamus Quigley did keep Roslea in touch but a Jonny Cassidy point after another surging run was followed by a goal from Matthew Dixon, his shot looping over Mohan to the back of the net to make it 4-11 to 1-13.

McShea pointed to further extend the Enniskillen advantage and although Roslea finished with a Sean Quigley palmed goal, it was just a consolation score as the Gaels finished up five point victors.