Shoots of encouragement for Roscommon despite defeat in Tuam
Róise Lennon and her Roscommon team-mates matched Galway for 30 minutes at Tuam Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Roscommon intermediate ladies’ footballers produced a very commendable showing against Galway before falling short by seven points at Tuam Stadium on Sunday.
The result leaves Roscommon with two losses from their opening three league games in Division Two, but manager Finbar Egan and his players will take a lot of positives from this contest against a team that were defeated in last year’s All-Ireland senior ladies’ football final.
Kate Slevin’s unanswered 1-8 either side of half time was the killer blow from a Roscommon perspective, but the visitors refused to throw in the towel and were rewarded with a goal from Abby Curran with 12 minutes remaining.
Despite the perceived gulf in class between the teams, Roscommon were excellent in the opening half.
Galway centre-forward Shauna Hynes was given too much space but, in general, the defence coped with Galway’s multitude of threats in attack, with Rachel Brady and Megan Kelly doing well in the full-back line.
Roscommon moved the ball quickly, and the impressive Caoimhe Lennon was always able to win anything that came her way.
The sides were level five times during the opening half, with Aisling Hanly (2), Róise Lennon (4), Caoimhe Lennon and Caoimhe Cregg troubling the scoreboard from a Roscommon perspective.
But the half’s defining moment arrived in first-half injury time when Roscommon were 0-8 to 0-7 to the good.
Just as Kate Slevin stepped up to take a ’45, referee Eddie Cuthbert spotted an infringement inside the small square and awarded Galway what looked like a very soft penalty. But Slevin held her nerve to convert and added a point in her side’s next attack to hand her side a fortunate 1-8 to 0-8 cushion at the break.
Slevin went on to kick another seven points (five from frees and two from play) on the bounce, but the game became diluted as both teams made a raft of substitutions.
But Roscommon’s persistence was rewarded when Curran cracked home an excellent goal after great work by Caoimhe Cregg in the 48th minute.
There may have been seven points in it at the end, but Roscommon — for 30 minutes at least — showed that they could live with this sort of company.
