Building on the momentum of a good win in our first outing in Glenville, our footballers travelled to Cobh on March 26th to take home the points after a solid performance.
Originally to be played in Shanagarry, an unplayable pitch meant that we had to concede home advantage. The less familiar surroundings seemed to affect us in the early stages as we struggled for scores. Cobh also took time to settle in what was their first outing of the year. This led to some scrappy play initially, until Eoin McGrath took a pass from his brother Jack on the left wing and impressively slotted the opening score off his left leg. The hard working Kiaran Aherne had more possessions than most in the first half and it was his good work that earned a free which Ross Walsh slotted. A third from Jack McGrath had the travelling supporters hopes up of a comfortable win, until a sucker punch hit when a high delivery was won by the Cobh corner forward who finished to the net.
It may just have been the wake up call that Rovers needed as this spurred an attack that led to brilliant handpassing interplay from back to front, eventually ending in the hands of Ross Walsh who made no mistake with a low drilled goal. Another Rovers point, with a single reply from Cobh led to us leading 1-4 to -1-1 at the half time whistle.
With both teams well settled now, there was a noticeable difference in the standard in the second half. Ball retention was much better from the Rovers and with better quality ball coming into Rovers full forward line, half time substitute Shane O’Donovan put over his first score of the match. In a similar situation to the first half, Cobh again goaled out of the blue but to be fair it was an unstoppable shot past Stephen Cronin by the centre forward .
In what could have been a momentum swinger, the full back line of Aidan Beausang and the Devaney brothers took the initiative to attack from the back which tested the away teams stamina. In a way this nullified Cobh’s play and reaped rewards for Rovers, ultimately leading to an excellent individual goal from Jack McGrath. Points from Kiaran Aherne, Paul Lane, and an additional 1-1 from Shane O’Donovan took the game way beyond Cobh.
Kevin Ivers returned from injury from the substitutes bench, as did Conor O’Brien who made a positive impact as Rovers legs tired late on.
Another promising performance leaves us top of the league with games against Midleton and Lisgoold to come.
Final Score;
Cobh: 2-04 Russell Rovers 3-08
Match Photos can be found on the Cobh GAA Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/CobhGAA
Team: Stephen Cronin, Aidan Beausang, Eoghan Devaney, Sean Devaney, Tom Morrison, James Kennefick, Fintan Murray, Kiaran Aherne, Paul Lane, Donnacha O’Donovan, Jack McGrath, Eoin McGrath, Cormac Aherne, Ross Walsh, Kevin Roche. Subs: Shane O’Donovan, Kevin Ivers, Conor O’Brien.
