Four Roads' battling qualities not enough to derail Tooreen
Four Roads joint captain, Jack Donnelly, and his team-mates, gave it their best shot against Tooreen in the Hyde on Sunday afternoon.
Four Roads’ battling performance wasn’t enough to prevent Tooreen from progressing to the Connacht Club Intermediate Hurling Championship semi-final at King and Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park on Sunday afternoon.
Micheál Kelly’s side died with their boots on, but Tooreen’s greater scoring threat saw the Mayo champions prevail by five points.
Four Roads made a dream start when a point after 20 seconds by Cormac Mulry was followed by a goal from Conor Morris.
But that’s as good as it got for the Tisrara men, who lost Eoghan Morris to injury, as a scrappy opening half eventually saw Tooreen take over on the scoreboard.
Shane Boland hit 0-5, including four from frees, while unfortunate Four Roads defender Jimmy Hoey cleared his own crossbar with an attempted pass back to his goalkeeper Noel Fallon for a rare own point.
Tooreen were 0-10 to 1-4 ahead at the break, and although Four Roads continued to throw themselves at every blue and white jersey that moved, many of their deliveries into their forward line were aimless, which were mopped up by the excellent Oisín Greally and his team-mates.
A brilliant team move resulted in a goal for Kenny Feeney in the 42nd minute, which put the visitors firmly in control.
Frees from Morris, goalkeeper Noel Fallon, and a point from play by substitute Oisín Finneran kept Four Roads in touch, but they lacked the fluency in attack to spring a surprise as the wait for a victory in the provincial club championship will stretch into an 11th year for Roscommon teams.
Tooreen scorers: S. Boland (0-6, five frees), K. Feeney (1-1), F. Boland (0-3), E. Delaney (0-2), Seán Kenny (0-2, one free), D. Kenny (0-1), F. Delaney (0-1), J. Hoey (Four Roads, 0-1, own point).
Four Roads: C. Morris (1-6, six frees), Cormac Mulry (0-1), Adam Donnelly (0-1), Eamon Mulry (0-1), Conor Mulry (0-1), Oisín Finneran (0-1), Noel Fallon (0-1, one free).
