Kepak Roscommon SHC Final

Four Roads 0-26 Athleague 2-12

By Kevin Egan at Waldron Park, Athleague

Four Roads are the kingpins of Roscommon hurling once again after an utterly dominant first quarter ensured that they retained the Mickey Cunniffe Cup with ease this afternoon at Waldron Park.

The reigning champions made full use of the wind by rattling off the first ten points without reply, and from then on they kept their opponents at arm’s length for the remainder of the game, despite never quite reaching the same tempo or fluency for the final three quarters.

Right from the start, Shane Curley's side made full use of the wind, as their hurling was wonderfully fluid and slick. Excellent use of space saw them strike five points from play in the opening five minutes, with Pádraig Kelly kicking off an excellent hour's hurling for the man and the club with the first point after just 12 seconds. Darren Fallon chipped in with a score and set up another for Jack Donnelly, and both Donnelly and Kelly put a second score on the board in those early exchanges as well.

Cathal Dolan and Johnny Moran added points to make it 0-9 to 0-0 with 12 minutes gone, when Athleague’s frustration boiled over and a wild, late hit from Darragh Heavey on Donnelly saw him pick up a straight red card.

As supporters checked the match programme to see what was the largest margin of victory in a Roscommon senior hurling final ever (Four Roads' 19-point win over Pádraig Pearses in 2010), Athleague finally got off the mark through a Ben McGahon free. Robbie Fallon - brother of player manager Gary Fallon - then came up with a huge play when he leapt up to field a high ball in between two defenders and then sweep the ball to the net for his ninth goal of this championship so far.

Eoin Ward also picked off a couple of excellent scores from play for the underdogs but a string of outstanding scores from Jack Donnelly, Pádraig Kelly and Cathal Dolan gave Four Roads a comfortable 0-18 to 1-5 interval lead.

The breeze now favoured Athleague for the second half and they kept in touch, largely on the back of a solid freetaking display from county star Ben McGahon, but the extra man that Four Roads had in defence made it a lot easier for the 36-time county champions to marshal the speed-based threat posed by Tadhg Lyons, Aengus Lyons and Cian Murray.

Seven scoreless minutes at the start of the second half were brought to an end by a brace of Four Roads scores from veterans Micheál Kelly and Conor Mulry, and while Robbie Fallon hit the net a second time with a goal from a free to bring the deficit back to a single figure margin, Four Roads were never under pressure and eased through a lifeless second half to secure a shot at either Ballyhaunis or Tooreen next month, where they will aim to be the first Roscommon club to win a Connacht club IHC tie since they overcame Ballyhaunis in 2015.

SCORERS FOR FOUR ROADS: Cathal Dolan 0-11 (0-10f), Pádraig Kelly 0-4, Jack Donnelly 0-3, Conor Mulry 0-3, Johnny Moran 0-2, Darren Fallon 0-1, Eamon Mulry 0-1, Micheál Kelly 0-1.

SCORERS FOR ATHLEAGUE: Ben McGahon 0-9 (0-8f), Robbie Fallon 2-1 (1-1f), Eoin Ward 0-2.

FOUR ROADS: Noel Fallon; Jimmy Hoey, James Dillon, John Moran; Darren Fallon, Tommy Morris, Adam Donnelly; Conor Coyle, Eamon Mulry; Pádraig Kelly, Micheál Kelly, Cathal Dolan; Conor Mulry, Brendan Mulry, Jack Donnelly.

SUBS: Cormac Mulry for J Donnelly (50 mins), Conor Kelly for Dillon (59 mins), Donal Kelly for E Mulry (59 mins), Liam Óg Coyle for B Mulry (60+3 mins), Oisín Campbell for D Fallon (60+4 mins).

ATHLEAGUE: Gary Fallon; Eoghan O’Brien, Darragh Mullen, Mark Ward; Darragh Heavey, Eoghan Coyle, Stephen Kilcommins; Naoise Coyle, Aengus Lyons; Cormac Kelly, Cian Murray, Eoin Ward; Ben McGahon, Robbie Fallon, Tadhg Lyons.

SUBS: Alan Moore for O’Brien (half-time), Thomas Clayton for Murray (39 mins), Oisín Lyons for N Coyle (54 mins), Niall Connolly for Kilcommins (57 mins), Cathal Crehan for Kelly (59 mins).

REF: Matthew Farrell.