The opening round of the Morgan Fuels Senior Football Championship saw comfortable wins for Carryduff, Burren, and Clonduff.
Loughinisland, though on top for much of their clash with Downpatrick, were made to work harder for their success. A couple of second-half goals pushed them clear of the Hoops in what was a more competitive affair than the scoreline may suggest.
Warrenpoint were the better side against Bredagh, but it took until the last ten minutes for the South Down side to gain breathing room on the scoreboard. They eventually ran out 0-17 to 0-11 winners.
One of the standout individual performances of the round came from Eamonn Brown, who returned from a summer in America and wasted no time picking up where he left off. Brown notched an impressive 11 points during Clonduff’s second-half demolition of Liatroim. Special mention also goes to Shane Close, who delivered a top-class man-marking display on Conor McCrickard.
As previously reported, there were also wins for Kilcoo and Glenn, but the result of the round belonged to Drumgath.
Relegated to Division Three, Drumgath were pitted against neighbours, rivals, and Division One regulars Mayobridge. Yet they showed no signs of an inferiority complex. The underdogs were the better team over the hour, and while they rode their luck at times, they battled gallantly across every sector of the field to earn a memorable victory.
RGU Downpatrick joint manager Kevin Duffin was left feeling very disappointed following his side’s Senior Championship opening round defeat to Loughinisland on Friday night.
They were beaten by five points in Teconnaught after having led by the same margin at one stage in the second half.
Kevin, who manages the team alongside Collie McCrickard, told the Mourne Observer:
“We are disappointed. I thought it was a game that was very winnable and we had an opportunity to take a win. Wins in the Senior Championship are hard enough to come by. I am really disappointed that we didn’t take the opportunity. I am disappointed for those men that they didn’t express themselves.”
He noted the frustration was heightened by a sense of déjà vu, as similar mistakes had cost Downpatrick in last year’s championship defeats to Ballyholland and Liatroim.
“The frustration from this year and last year is that we have been in the position to win games and look competitive, but we have gone back to our bad mistakes and took our eye off the ball. It cost us last year in two championship games, and it has cost us already in our first championship game.”
Downpatrick entered the championship on the back of retaining their Division One status, so there had been optimism facing a Loughinisland side that had finished only three points ahead of them in the league.
Kevin said the team had started Friday’s game well:
“We put in a lot of half-decent work in the first half and we went in at half-time with that bonus, where we got the goal and went in four points up. Then we scored the first point of the second half. We were in a position to go and take the game but we didn’t—we absolutely just fell flat on our face.”
He pointed to critical mistakes and missed opportunities as the reasons they couldn’t see the game out.
“Credit to Loughinisland, we gave them what they needed to survive. We made mistakes and blunders. We dropped the ball into our own net and they thrived and crucified us. We didn’t perform. A lot of our key men didn’t do themselves justice in the key stages.
“There is no doubting there is natural ability, but there is a real looseness in terms of our basic handling, our shooting and our decision-making. It is the basic things—but they are the most important things.”
Kevin concluded by saying the problems on show are ones the team must work on if they’re going to fulfil their potential.
“There is a constant battle with the RGU men. We have the potential and the skill set. We don’t have huge numbers but we have a core of young players who have really good quality. But it is trying to find that consistency with the guys. That has been the biggest challenge for us for the last 18 months to two years.”
In this week’s issue read reports from Rostrevor’s win over Ballymartin, Longstone’s win over Darragh Cross, Glenn’s win over Ballyholland and An Riocht’s victory against Teconnaught.
To read the digital edition, download the Mourne Observer app – for apple click here – for android click here
