Perfect ten from McCusker seals a share of the spoils

Fermanagh and Roscommon had to settle for a share of the spoils from their Allianz NHL Division 3A contest in Derrylin on Sunday.

Danann McKeogh’s well finished 32nd minute goal helped Joe Baldwin’s side into a 1-07 to 0-08 half time advantage but the Rossies responded after the break and when big full forward Brendan Mulry crashed a shot to the net with 11 minutes to go it put the visitors three points to the good.

However, Fermanagh produced a positive reaction and with Luca McCusker landing a number of crucial frees they fought back to level by the 69th minute.

Roscommon then edged back ahead thanks to a point from Mulry but that man McCusker brought his tally to ten points for the day when he sent over a long range free deep in added on time to leave it all square at the final whistle.

It was McCusker who had opened the scoring on the day from a free for the Ernemen but Roscommon had their own dead ball specialist in the shape of Paddy Fallon and he answered with a converted 65 and a free to make it 0-02 to 0-01.

It was tit for tat over the next period as Francie McBrien and McCusker landed excellent points from play while Jack Daly and Mulry did likewise for the away side.

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Fallon rattled over another two 65s, sandwiching a McCusker free to put Roscommon into a 0-06 to 0-04 lead but it remained a closely fought encounter with McCusker and Eoin Fitzgerald trading points before another McCusker free was followed by a well executed point from Shea Curran after good work by McCusker to tie matters up at 0-07 apiece.

Key score

The key score of the half though arrived soon after with McCusker - who was at the heart of everything good that Fermanagh did on the day – linking up with Sean Corrigan who fed McKeogh and he cut inside before lashing home to the roof of the net.

Roscommon wrapped up the half with a late Fallon free but at the break Fermanagh held a 1-07 to 0-08 lead.

The gap was back out to three early in the second half as Ben Corrigan fired over for Fermanagh although they also missed a number of other chances to further extend their advantage.

And after this Roscommon started to get a grip on things around the middle third and points from Mulry and two Fallon frees had them back on level terms, 1-08 to 0-11, by the 50th minute.

A fine Thomas Cleary effort nudged Fermanagh back in front but Roscommon continued to have the better of things and Fitzgerald rattled over from the right before Mulry collected a long ball and turned and slotted home to make it 1-12 to 1-09 with 59 minutes on the clock.

Fermanagh though dug deep and McCusker reduced the deficit to a point with two frees although a Fitzgerald point made it a two point game.

However, the home side had turned the momentum and two more McCusker frees had the sides level moving into six minutes of added on time.

Roscommon again got their noses in front through Mulry but McCusker ensured that Fermanagh claimed a point with a late free leaving the Ernemen sitting third in the table after three games.

Fermanagh: M Curry; Ciaran Duffy, R Porteous, C Breslin; T McGurn, R Bogue, F McBrien 0-01; Caolan Duffy, D Teague; T Cleary 0-01, B Corrigan 0-01, L McCusker 0-10 (8f); S Corrigan, S Curran 0-01, D McKeogh 1-00

Subs – A Flanagan for McBrien, B Teehan for Curran, D Bannon for B Corrigan, U O’Reilly for Cleary

Roscommon: E Lawless; T Fleming, J Dillon, M Ward; G Egan, J Brennan, E Flanagan; D Finn, E Fitzgerald 0-03; C Mulry, M Brennan, J Dowling 0-01; P Fallon 0-07 (3 65, 4f), B Mulry 1-03, MJ Egan

Subs – A Donnelly for Brennan, E Kiernan for G Egan, N Connaughton for Dowling

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