County Roscommon sisters hit seven goals between them in Connacht Women's Cup game

The first round games in the Connacht Women’s Cup were played on Sunday, and it was a day of mixed fortunes for teams from the Roscommon and District League.

Boyle Celtic recorded an impressive 4-1 win over Ballyglass at Boyle. Ballyglass took the lead after 21 minutes but Boyle Celtic scored four second-half goals to secure their place in the second round.

Emer Callaghan levelled the game after the break. Emma Duggan struck the Ballyglass crossbar, with Sinead O’Donohoe on hand to finish the rebound. Maeve Brogan and O’Donohoe added two more for Boyle Celtic before the end.

Shiven Rovers were beaten 3-0 at home by a very good Swinford side. Kilkerrin were unlucky to lose to a late goal from a strong Corrib Celtic side.

Castlerea Celtic secured a great result by beating Ballina Town 7-2 at Castlerea. Clodagh and Sarah Diggins were among the goalscorers, with Clodagh grabbing four goals and Sarah scoring a hat-trick.

Mervue United beat Ballaghaderreen 2-1 in a game of exceptional quality at Mervue. Ballaghaderreen hit the woodwork twice in the first half, but it remained 0-0 at half time. Mervue scored after 68 minutes but Ballaghaderreen started to take control of proceedings. They hit the woodwork, while the Mervue ‘keeper pulled off an amazing save from a Rebecca Finnan free kick on 80 minutes.

Mervue scored a goal on the break on 85 minutes, before Ballaghaderreen finally got some reward for their pressure when Rebecca Finan scored from the penalty spot in the 90th minute. Unfortunately, time ran out on the Ballagh girls as Mervue greeted the final whistle with a mixture of delight and relief.

Overall, it was a great performance by a Ballaghaderreen side that proved more than a match for their illustrious opponents in their back yard.

Roscommon and District League Premier Division champions, St. John’s Athletic, stretched their lead at the top of the points table to four points following a hard-earned 2-1 win away to Dunmore Town.

Both teams had chances in the first half, but it took 58 minutes of play before either team could score. Dunmore opened the scoring through Padraig Martyn. Within two minutes, Ronan Morris headed a Tommy Hurley free kick to the Dunmore net. Four minutes later, Daire Keenan gave St. John’s a 2-1 lead and they held out to take three valuable points.

Castlerea Celtic defeated Skyvalley Rovers 4-0 at Castlerea but they are still ten points behind the leaders with a game less played.

The visitors started well and enjoyed the majority of play in the opening 25 minutes. However, the talented Jay McCartney struck for the home side after a clever through ball by Kailin Barlow.

An injury to John Price didn’t help Skyvalley’s cause. Kailin Barlow added a second for Castlerea with a well-taken free kick three minutes into the second half. They added two more in the closing ten minutes through McCartney and Dara Curran.

In the Killeen’s Sports Grounds sponsored Division Two League, Castlerea Celtic’s second side beat Ballinagare 3-0 at Ballinagare. Gerry Ward gave Castlerea the lead from penalty spot after Yani Chiforiuc was brought down after 20 minutes.

Despite having their goalkeeper sent off, Castlerea continued to dominate as Ballinagare missed a penalty. In the 70th minute, Michael Conroy found Conor Murray on the edge of the box and he calmly smashed his shot to the roof of net. Gerry Ward wrapped up the points with Castlerea’s third goal with ten minutes remaining.

There were a couple of surprise results in the first round of the Joe’s Bar sponsored Challenge Cup. Division Two side Carrick Town beat Division One outfit Ballaghaderreen 5-3 at Ballaghaderreen. Brandon Boyce and Paul Mannion scored for the Carrick on Shannon-based side inside 12 minutes. But Leon Sinnott pulled one back for Ballaghaderreen three minutes later.

Fursey Butler and Evan Corcoran added two more for the winners before half time. Leon Sinnott and Paul Horan grabbed two goals for Ballaghaderreen but Dylan Regan sealed Carrick’s victory with his side’s fifth goal with 14 minutes remaining.

Division One side Moylough continued their good run of results when they beat Roscommon United 2-1 at Roscommon. After missing some early chances, Joseph Whyte scored for the winners after 23 minutes.

Roscommon United were on top early in the second half but failed to take advantage. With 20 minutes remaining, Shane Donnellan added a second for Moylough, thanks to a well-struck free kick. Marcel Gala pulled one back for Roscommon United in the 82nd minute but they just couldn’t get an equaliser.

Division One side Kilkerrin United edged out the Ballinlough-based side Lough Harps from Division Two at Kilkerrin. Oisín Hynes scored the only goal of the game with 86 minutes played.

CP Ajax, who ply their trade in Division One, edged out Division Two outfit Rahara Rovers at Tarmon. Rahara Rovers took the lead from the penalty spot through Barry Gately, leading to the dismissal of a CP Ajax player.

Just when it looked like Rahara had done enough to win the game, Dan Connolly scored an equaliser as the game ticked into injury time. Connolly scored again in the first minute of extra time before Tadgh Jordan added CP Ajax’s third in the second period of extra time.

In an all-Division Two clash, league leaders Glen Celtic recorded a comfortable 6-0 win over Moore’s second side. Dyan Joyce scored his third hat-trick in his last three games. Darragh Keavney, Ethan Dowd and Gavin Hegarty also netted to seal their team’s place in the next round.

Cloonfad United from Division One beat Division Two side St. Cuan’s/Ahascragh United 5-0 at Cloonfad. Luke Ruane and Michael McGarry put Cloonfad 2-0 ahead at half time. While the visitors were much better early in the second half, they had a player sent off. Jack Madden and Darragh Flynn added two more for Cloonfad in the closing minutes of the game.

Boyle Celtic’s second side knocked fellow Division Two side, Ballyboro, out of the cup when a late strike from Alfonso Sanchez was enough to end the Lanesboro side’s eight-game unbeaten run.