TYHOLLAND HOLD OFF LATE CHARGE BY ROCK
TYHOLLAND1-14
ROCKCORRY1-13
COLM SHALVEY REPORTS FROM ST MARY’S PARK
TYHOLLAND held off a late charge from Rockcorry to win their Monaghan Electrical Intermediate Football League game by the narrowest of margins last Sunday.
An open game provided plenty of entertainment for neutrals, with a total of 29 scores and a number of goal chances for both teams. Tyholland never trailed after a fine start which saw them kick the game’s first six points and although Rockcorry enjoyed two purple patches of their own, the best they could manage was drawing level once in each half. Raymond Ronaghan’s unerring free-taking was key for Tyholland, as were the efforts of Declan Connolly, Peadar Farrelly and Ronan McNally, while Paul McKeown and Fergal McGeough showed well for Rockcorry and the late introduction of Mark Daly almost gave them something from the game.
Tyholland took just a minute to get off the mark when Brian McArdle kicked a good point from play and Raymond Ronaghan won and scored a 25-metre free to double their lead. The big full-forward repeated the trick on eight minutes after Paul Coyle had also got on the scoresheet, before Coyle linked up with Karl O’Connell to tap over his second point. Rockcorry had a great chance of a goal on 12 minutes when Noel Carroll, John Greenan and Paul McKeown combined to release Anthony Tate, but his shot crashed off the crossbar and out to safety.
Point-attempts from Dwayne Rooney and Stephen McGuirk both hit the right upright within the space of a minute, before Conor Curley clipped over Tyholland’s sixth point at the end of a counter-attack involving Declan Connolly and O’Connell. Rock finally got off the mark on 17 minutes with a point from Noel Carroll after a quickly-taken free by his midfield partner Fergal McGeough. Mark McGuirk won and scored a 30-metre free and Rock got right back into it when McGeough slipped a pass over the Tyholland full-back line for Tate to fire to the net from close range.
Mark McGuirk converted a 25-metre free for a foul on Rooney to level it up, but Ronaghan booted …
