Carnaross picked up another senior scalp as they continued their impressive start to life in Division 2 with a narrow victory over Curraha.
Carnaross 1-14 Curraha 2-9
A League (Division 2)
Played in Curraha – 24/2/2019
The visitors came out on top after an exciting contest that ebbed and flowed throughout.
Things were not looking particularly good for the Ross early on, however, with Curraha dominating the opening exchanges. Carnaross struggled to get a foothold in the game as the home side pressed high and tackled feverishly, forcing several turnovers in the process. They found themselves trailing by 5 points to one midway through the half before Dermot McGee and Frank O’Reilly narrowed the gap with a point apiece.
The visitors were dealt another blow when Curraha converted a penalty after their wing forward was brought down on the edge of the square. The two sides finished the half with a pair of points each to leave the scores at 1-7 to 0-5.
Carnaross struggled at times to get up to the pace of the game in the first half but the momentum shifted after the break as the Ross tightened up defensively and began to pick holes in the Curraha defence. Cian O’Reilly began to pull the strings around the middle third and also chipped in with two points while Declan Reilly and Frank O’Reilly maintained their accuracy from placed balls to tie the game for the first time.
Curraha had no intention of lying down though as they found the back of the net after slipping a through ball behind the Carnaross defence. With just five minutes left on the clock, victory seemed to be just out of reach for the visitors but they persisted and were rewarded for their efforts when Frank O’Reilly was brought down in the box. The centre forward made no mistake from the spot to bring the teams back on level terms.
Carnaross won the resultant kick out and Dermot McGee landed his second point from a tight angle drawing a huge roar from the Ross bench and supporters before O’Reilly converted a late free to make sure of the win.
Carnaross: Shane McNiffe, Cian Gillic, Ian Donoghue, Jack Roche, Stephen Flattery, Tomás Plunkett, Pierce Fleming, Niall McDonnell, Cillian Comaskey, Cian O’Reilly (0-2), Frank O’Reilly (1-7), Killian Porter, Declan Reilly (0-3), Dermot McGee (0-2), Patrick McDermott. Subs: John L McGee for Reilly, Peter Carpenter for Gillic