Borris-Ileigh GAA Club Match Report
Borris-Ileigh vs Roscrea (North Junior A Championship)
20th June 2021
By Denis Ryan
Borris-Ileigh started their Junior A campaign for 2021 on the 20th of June against Roscrea in the Park, Borrisoleigh. Both teams started physically but without many chances in the first 10 minutes. There were a lot of frees and little free flowing hurling, to be expected for the first game of the campaign. Roscrea had the better of the possession early on and capitalised on a great catch in their full forward line to score a goal after a nice side step. That goal along with two Roscrea points were the only scored before the first water break. David O’Connor went off with what appeared to be a calf injury before the water break and was replaced by Shane McCormack. Roscrea led by 1-2 to no points at the first water break with Borris not getting any clear cut chances in the first quarter. Roscrea added another point to their tally post break before Maurice Ryan got illegally tackled to allow Eddie Ryan his first free taking opportunity of the day which was duly slotted over the bar for Borris’ first score of the game near the 20 minute mark. Both teams then traded a point each thanks to a second Eddie Ryan free before a good stretch of play for Roscrea. Unlucky slips from keeper and defenders at different times in quick succession led to a passage of 1-1 for Roscrea including a well struck penalty by Roscrea’s goalkeeper to make the score 2-5 to 0-2 in the second quarter. This also coincided with Aaron Reid entering the fray as a blood sub for Michael Ryan and James Kelly replacing Adam Galvin in the full back line. Borris reacted well to the second goal with a third free by Eddie Ryan and good team play leading to a well taken point by Micheal Carey but Roscrea were still able to match point for point. Borris finished the half really well with an increased team work rate which yielded another free taking their tally for the half to 5 points (4 from frees). The score at half time was 2-7 to 5 points.
Borris came out for the second half with a different intensity that had began at the very end of the first half, this led to some great catching by Fintan Holland and running from Eddie Ryan which brought two successful frees. Roscrea added a point to their score before Borris really took the upper hand which started with another Eddie free and a great point by Matthew Stapleton to bring the deficit down to 3 points. Jack Fitzgerald entered the fray for Seamus Ryan before the play of the game for Borris started with Jack Fitz doing very well to hold off a free worthy tackle before hand passing to Eddie Ryan who ran down the left wing for a shot that hit the post before Cathal Hogan reacted quickest to slot in Borris first goal of the game which was just reward for the high team intensity in the third quarter. The goal brought the deficit to 4 points at the water break with a score of 2-10 to 1-09. Jack Fitzgerald started the final quarter with a great point for Borris before a Roscrea score was returned by Fintan Holland hitting a well taken point on his left side. Borris were well structured at the back during this period with particular stand outs Thomas Fahy and Ciaran Cowan anchoring well with James Kelly putting in a strong effort after coming on. However, Borris were unable to close the gap with Roscrea having the better of the 4th quarter in totality with only a few Eddie Ryan frees really doing damage but not enough to avoid Borris dropping their first game of the season at a scoreline of 2-14 to 1-14
Borris will be disappointed to have went a large portion of the first half without a score and dropping down by 1-5 to no points. However, to then get back within a single score on multiple occasions really shows the heightened intensity the team played with from the first water break on. DOC’s injury forced a reshuffle of the team which cannot go unnoticed but the backline performed extremely well together during the second half with the aforementioned Thomas Fahy and Ciaran Cowan providing an excellent base whilst new additions on the day of Aaron Reid and James Kelly performing very well and getting to the pace of the game very quickly. The forward line showed great glimpses of shooting at different intervals in particular the second half which is a good omen for future games. They showed great individual and team intensity throughout the last 3 quarters which led to some great scores and interplay which will give confidence to both management and players going forward. Borris have one more match in this group against Toomevara in Toome which is set at the moment for the 3rd of July at 7pm.
Team and Scorers:
Jack Bourke
Adam Galvin Thomas Fahy Michael Ryan
Maurice Ryan David O’Connor John McGrath
Bill O’Connell Ciaran Cowan
Seamus Ryan Cathal Hogan (1-00) Matthew Stapleton (0-02)
Eddie Ryan (0-09(0-09f)) Fintan Holland (0-01) Micheal Carey (0-01)
Shane McCormack for David O’Connor (Injury)
James Kelly for Adam Galvin
Aaron Reid for Michael Ryan (Blood Sub)
Aaron Reid for John McGrath
Jack Fitzgerald (0-01) for Seamus Ryan
