04/06/05 Rossa all at sea after Johnnies second half tidal wave

ACHL Div 2 South: Corrigan Park

St.Johns 5:05 (20) Rossa 3:09 (18)

Rossa Division 2 hurlers will be wondering how on earth they managed to throw this game away. Going in at the interval 3:06(15) to 0:03 in front and dominating the exchanges in many sectors of the field with Ricardo McGreevey, Kieran Grego, Kevin Grieves and Ciaran McCallan all in sparkling form.

St. John's triumphant Division 2 Hurlers

The second half saw St. Johns come out and quietly set about restoring some respectability in the scoreline.

Rossa Shellshocked Division 2 Hurlers

That wiley old "Brian Mullins" look a-like Conor McCaffery goaled brilliantly from 25 yards after a jinking solo run. His shot across Rossa goal minder Sean McCabe's (a 4 time Minor Hurling Championship Winner) goal to the right side was superb.

It gave the deflated Johnnies some impetus as they systematically began to pull score after score back.

With two late goals in the last eight minutes from McCaffery again and a brilliant "ground cut" by corner forward Kevin Mullan through a crowded packed Rossa goal mouth from 25 yards across the face of the goal mouth to McCabes top left corner to give the Johnnies on the balance of play a surprising victory.

St. John's defenders close down the Rossa threat

St.Johns: 1.Brian Holmes 2.David Wright 3.Jim Connolly 4.Chris Crawford 5.Gerard McCann 6.Locky McCurdy 7.Tony Ferran 8.Joe Hand 9.Adrian Oliver 10.Brian Moore 11.Conor McCaffery 12.Fionntain McKillop 13.Kevin Mullan 14.Donal Kennedy 15.Paul McKissock. Substitutes: 16.Eoghan Caldwell for Paul McKissock 17.Packie Nolan for Brian Moore 18.Aodh Hamilton 19.Eamon Grieves.
St.Johns Scorers: Conor McCaffey 2:00,Kevin Mullan 1:01, Donal Kennedy 0:02(1f), Tony Ferran 0:02(2f), Fionntain McKillop 1:00, Adrian Oliver 1:00.
Manager : Brendan McGibbon

Rossa: 1.Sean McCabe, 2.Darren O'Kane 3.James Devlin, 4.Nicky Condon 5.Kevin Grego 6.Paul McDonald 7.Ciaran Quirke 8.Ricardo McGreevy,9.Gerard Leckey, 10.Paul Cushinan 11.Kevin Grieves 12.Aidan Carbine 13.Martin Carbine 14.Stephen Collins 15.Ciaran McCallan. Substitutes: 16.Liam McAuley 17.Chris Quirke 18.Sean Quirke 19.Ciarn Stewart.
Rossa Scorers: Ciaran McCallan 2:02, Ricardo McGreevy 1:02 (1:01f), Aidan Carbine 0:02, Kevin Grieves 0:02. Stephen Collins 0:01(1f).
Manager: Liam McAuley (senior)

Referee: Sean Morgan (6) St. Johns