Borris-Ileigh GAA Club Match Report
Borris-Ileigh vs Roscrea (FBD County Championship Group Stage-Round 1)
28th August 2021
Borris-Ileigh began their County Championship campaign against Roscrea on the 28th of August in Moneygall. Borris made 5 changes from their last outing in the North semi-final, Kieran Maher replacing Sean McCormack, Paddy Stapleton replacing Colm Boyle, Ray McCormack taking the place of Ciaran Cowan, Tomas Ryan in for Aaron Rabbitte and James Devaney in for Jody Harkin. Looking to improve on the last day out, Borris had made some positional switches to the team and it benefited them early with Dan picking up clean ball and finding Eddie Ryan in the corner forward position with the number 13 doing well to earn the team’s first free of the game which was duly slotted by the free taker. Eddie was the recipient of more good service when he received a Brendan pass before finding Kevin who finished a well worked score for the team. Borris backs were doing very well early on to contest the delivery from Roscrea backs with Dan sweeping well and bringing composure to the situation. Roscrea then attempted to isolate their corner forwards for delivery but Seamie Burke and Kieran Maher in particular stood up well and kept them at bay out the field. Borris started with a very high intensity in their forward line and bore the benefits when JD’s hustling set up a Niall Kenny score before excellent team work ethic led to an error allowing Brendan to score from the half forward position to open his account for the game. Borris opened a three point lead early but Roscrea responded well to even the scores before Ray Mc got into the action and scored back to back scores, one from near the sideline and then picking up a nice bounce pass to finish well. Borris were leading 6 points to 4 as the water break arrived. As mentioned before, Borris’ forward work rate was evident to see leading to constant pressure and some errors whilst the backline were working well together to contest and then use the extra man to deliver back to forward line.
Borris started the second quarter with Eddie Ryan making the most of a 50;50 contest, showing good work rate to set himself up for a good score. That theme happened again when JD caused another Roscrea back turnover which allowed him to shoot from the middle third and finish a good play. Borris then entered a scoring slump with little shot creation and failing to finish chances that were created. Their work rate continued at a high level though which allowed a keeping of a scoring gap before Conor Kenny snatched a great catch from a puck out to score off his left side. Borris then worked hard to not allow an exit from the back line of Roscrea to cause another turnover and free number 2 for Eddie Ryan, Brendan scoring his first free not soon after from further out after Jerry did well in the tackle to earn the free. Sean McCormack replaced Tommy Foot later in the quarter before Borris scored their first goal of the game. Conor made a great catch before laying off to Brendan who ran through the Roscrea defence before multiple defenders stopped the ball but landed to Kevin Maher who shot it to the roof of the night with a very well taken finish. Niall did really well to cause another turnover and earn an inside free which was finished by Eddie to make the score line at the break Borris-Ileigh 1-12 to Roscrea’s 7 points. The theme of the first half was the incredible work rate of the forward line which caused multiple turnovers leading to in play scoring chances aswell as earning of frees. The back line did very well in what was becoming limited ball to deal with as the half drew on and a very solid half from the team.
Borris started the 3rd quarter with a beautiful score starting with Sean passing to Kevin who stick passed the ball to Brendan who finished well on the left hand side. Borris’ work rate continued with the team smothering any opportunity of good clean ball into the Roscrea forward line, the opposition’s scoring becoming stagnant. Borris were testing out their short passing game more in the quarter looking to create better channels to set up inside threats but also having danger in the middle third with Kevin Maher avoiding tackles to set up Brendan for another score from near the right sideline. The game then entered a temporary lull with few scoring chances and some injuries but came back to life when Kieran Maher showed excellent vision to find Brendan down the line for another well taken score before the play of the game occurred. Brendan drifted back to half back to pick up the ball before finding JD down the right side line, JD gathering the ball and running past his marker before scooping the ball over a second challenger and finishing a volley style shot off his left hand side to the back of the net for a great goal. The game was finished as a contest and Borris started making multiple substitutions with Colm Boyle replacing Paddy Stapleton, Shane Kenny replacing Niall Kenny and Jody Harkin replacing Kevin Maher. Borris led at the second water break on a score line of 2-16 to 10 points. Conor Kenny showed very good shooting to add 2 more points to his tally in the 4th quarter whilst Eddie contributed frees 5, 6, 7 and 8 to increase Borris’ scoring with JD contributing one more before the final whilst went with Borris winning on a finishing score line of 2-24 to 15 points
The overwhelming positive from this game was the effort levels of the Borris forwards, they are excellent on the ball and very versatile but when able to marry that with high intensity in the tackle makes them a nightmare for oppositional backs. The team looked more cohesive in this game than the previous one which is a great sign ahead of very difficult games upcoming against Kilruane and Nenagh, the next direct opponent to be decided by whoever wins that contest. Borris benefitted greatly during the game with Dan Mc in the centre back role and Brendan given a license to roam whilst key players such as Paddy and Kieran Maher getting more and more game time which will only benefit the team in future matches. Roscrea have been a team on the up in recent years and were not predicted to be an easy matchup, Borris doing very well to negate their forward threats in the first half and being clinical for the majority of the second half with excellent shooting in the middle third. Best wishes to players and management in preparation for round 2.
Team and Scorers:
James McCormack
Seamus Burke, Liam Ryan (C), Kieran Maher
Paddy Stapleton, Dan McCormack, Ray McCormack (0-02)
Tommy Ryan, Brendan Maher (0-05(0-01f))
Niall Kenny (0-01), Jerry Kelly, James “JD” Devaney (1-02)
Eddie Ryan (0-10(0-08f)), Conor Kenny (0-03), Kevin Maher (1-01)
Subs:
Sean McCormack for Tommy Ryan
Jody Harkin for Kevin Maher
Aaron Rabbitte for Brendan Maher
Shane Kenny for Niall Kenny
