Thursday 20 September 2007
GORTIN 0 - 11 0 - 06 LOUGHMACRORY
Shock defeat for seniors in Gortin
The seniors put in a lack lustre performance this evening going down five points to a much sharper Gortin team that belied their lowly league position. Loughmacrory are going to have to lift their performance to hold a top four position and still have something left in the tank for playoffs. Loughmacrory opened brightly enough as Danny Fox put Ronan Ward through on goal but he was hauled down when a goal looked on the cards. He did point the resultant free however and in fact Loughmacrory depended on his accuracy from frees for all but one of their six points total. Gortin’s reply was swift and they had drawn levelled and gone one up a minute later. By the end of the first quarter Gortin were 0 - 4 to 0 - 02 ahead before Ronan Ward hoisted a long range effort over the bar, young Fox again the supplier.
This score should have lifted his team and Ronan was looking sharp his marker lucky to remain on the field of play when the referee issued him with consecutive ticks when yellow cards might have been flashed. The home side were making the most of the running at this stage with their midfield on top and the visiting defence looking vulnerable, with only mistakes by the hosts at times letting them off the hook. Manager Paddy McGuigan decided that it was time to act and he sent Shane Coyle and Stephen Donaghy into the fray with five minutes of the opening half to play.
Things didn’t improve for the visitors however and although Ward did add his fourth free he sent two 45’s astray while the St Patrick’s brought their tally to 6 to go in at the break leading by 2. Loughmacrory opened the second period as they had the first with a pointed free from Ronan Ward in the first minute after Brendan Ward had been fouled and when Ronan turned provider for another Ward, Raymond, to point the visitors looked to have come alive at last. This was a false dawn however as the home side found their rhythm once more knocking over a further five points in the second period, Loughmacrory’s luck failing them too when Brendan Ward hit the bottom of the upright and Ronan Ward sent a penalty wide after he himself had been hauled down in the square.
