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You are > Home > Hurlers slip up badly in Louth
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Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Hurlers slip up badly in Louth
Louth 1-12 Roscommon 1-8
A poor first-half display ultimately cost Roscommon dearly last Sunday as they fell to a surprise defeat at the hands of Louth in Dundalk.
The result leaves Roscommon in the lower half of the Division 3B table after two games in this year’s Allianz National Hurling League.
Their next two games are against second-placed Fingal and table-toppers Wicklow, and anything less than two victories will leave them out of contention for promotion.
A strong breeze favoured Louth in the first-half and they took full advantage of it.
Roscommon were outscored by 1-10 to 0-3 with the vast majority of Louth’s scores coming from placed balls.
Gerard Smyth did most of the damage with some splendid long range frees.
The Louth midfielder also made no mistake from the penalty spot to score his side’s only goal in the 12th minute.
Roscommon chipped away at Louth’s lead in the second half as they slowly clawed their way back into the contest. Shane Curley was accurate with a number of frees and when Brendan Hanley hit the net for the visitors in the 53rd minute it looked like the tide was turning in their favour.
At that stage they only trailed by three points, 1-10 to 1-7, but unfortunately they could not take advantage of their growing momentum. Roscommon never got any closer over the closing minutes and a couple of insurance scores for Louth saw them seal the victory by four points.
A poor day at the office for Roscommon was compounded in the 67th minute when Gary Fallon was dismissed for a second bookable offence.
Roscommon selector Micheal Mulry told the Roscommon Herald afterwards that his side hit “too many wides” and were “very poor” in the first-half. He was also unhappy with some of the refereeing decisions.
“We were probably a bit complacent after the Tyrone result and we didn’t play at all in the first-half,” Mulry commented.
“It was very poor and we gave away 1-6 or 1-7 from placed balls. There was a strong wind as well and that was a big factor. So we would’ve been on the back foot but we also hit too many wides.
“The referee was very poor and there were some suspect frees. The first yellow card for Gary Fallon was also a poor decision. We have no argument with the second yellow, that was fair enough.
“Having said that we still had the winning of the game in the second-half. We got the goal to bring us within three points and we thought we would pull it back. We had one or two goal chances and a couple of wides. So we just didn’t take our chances,” explained a disappointed Mulry.
Before the league campaign started, Seamus Qualter and his management team had earmarked the three games against Louth, Fingal and Wicklow as vitally important. Having lost to Louth, their next two games now take on even greater significance.
“The aim is still to reach a league final. We will have to beat Fingal next week and then Wicklow. Kevin Conneely had been playing well for us but he picked up a knock and will be doubtful for next week. There are one or two others who will need to be monitored but otherwise we have no injury worries,” Mulry concluded.
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