Johnny McGurn held his nerve to stroke home a penalty with the last kick of the game as Derrygonnelly ended Roslea’s reign as Fermanagh champions with a 3-09 to 1-13 victory at Brewster Park today.
Roslea had just taken the lead as Niall Cosgrove looked to have completed a brilliant comeback, the Shamrocks having trailed by seven at one stage, but they were to suffer late heartbreak as Paul Ward was taken down by Niall Cassidy and McGurn stepped up to coolly fire low to the back of the net to secure a two point win.
It was Brendan Rasdale’s Derrygonnelly who had dominated the first half and they deservedly went in at the break seven points to the good, 1-06 to 0-02.
The goal arrived five minutes before the break through Leigh Jones and indeed Mickey Jones and Kevin Cassidy also had goal chances late in the half that went over the bar.
Roslea were reformed though in the second half and they were boosted by a Sean Quigley goal in the third minute as the gap was cut back to four points.
With Seamie Quigley picking off a series of fine points from both play and frees the Derrygonnelly lead was whittled down to one, 1-07 to 1-06, but the Harps then swooped for their second goal. McGurn got on the end of a diagonal ball from Ward to palm in at the back post to make it a four point game.
Back once more however came Roslea and with Sean Quigley, Seamie Quigley, Brendan Sherlock and Niall Cosgrove landing points it saw the sides level with 57 minutes on the clock.
And Derrygonnelly looked to have blown there chances as Kevin Cassidy was red carded following a melee and then Cosgrove nudged Peter McGinnity’s side ahead, 1-13 to 2-09.
But there was to be one final twist in the game as Ward burst on to a breaking ball close to the Roslea goal and when he was upended by Niall Cassidy referee Martin Higgins had no hesitation in awarding a penalty.
And McGurn was the coolest man in Brewster Park as he drilled it into the bottom corner with what was the final kick of the game to send Derrygonnelly into the quarter-finals.
By admin Sun 29th Jul
