Mulry leads senior hurlers to opening win in Nickey Rackard Cup
Brendan Mulry was in excellent form for the Roscommon senior hurlers this afternoon. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie
Brendan Mulry was Roscommon's star man as he led his side to an opening round win against Louth in the Nickey Rackard Cup at Dr. Hyde Park.
The Four Roads forward was always a threat close to goal and ended up with a personal tally of 1-5 as the home side kept their opponents at arm's length to record a six-point victory.
Paddy Fallon also pitched in with eight points on an afternoon when Roscommon mixed the good with the mediocre.
The home side laid their platform for victory in the opening half, hitting 0-15 with a strong wind at their backs.
It took some time for Roscommon to finetune their radar but their accuracy became more pronounced as the half progressed.
Paddy Fallon spearheaded the scoring charge with 0-7 (six frees and a ’65), while Brendan Mulry, Jack Dowling, Darragh Finn, James Hardiman, and Cian Murray split the posts from play.
Louth had made a decent start when Conor Murphy found the net in the seventh minute following some hesitancy in the Roscommon rearguard, but the visitors had it all to do at the break, trailing by 0-15 to 1-3.
To their credit, they made a decent fist at trying to reel in their opponents, outscoring the hosts by 0-5 to 0-1 in the third quarter.
But once Mulry flicked a long delivery to the net with three minutes remaining, Roscommon were assured of victory.
SCORERS – Roscommon: P Fallon (7f, 1 ’65) 0-8, B Mulry 1-5, D Finn, J Hardiman, C Murray 0-2 each, J Dowling 0-1. Louth: D Geoghegan (6f) 0-6, C Murphy 1-1, P Lynch 0-3, D Stephenson 0-2, S Kettle, T McCressh 0-1 each.
ROSCOMMON – E Lawless; M Ward, D Leonard, J Dillon; J Donnelly, C Cosgrove, J Dowling; D Finn, J Hardiman; C Murray, A Donnelly, B Lawlor; B Mulry, J Martin, P Fallon. Subs used: S Canning for Donnelly (h-t), C Mulry for Martin (h-t), L Óg Coyle for Lawlor (67), T Fleming for Donnelly (68).
LOUTH - C Clancy; A Smyth, C Quigley, R Mulholland; G Allen, A Plunkett, A McGuinness; S Kettle, J Casey; C Murphy, D Geoghegan, S Connelly; P Lynch, J Costello, P Fortune. Subs used: K Rafferty for Plunkett (11), T McCressh for Costello (51), D Stephenson for Connelly (55), R McKeown for McGuinness (64), D Carey for Casey (70).
REF – C O’Regan (Cork).
