Bradley pleased to have ‘dug it out’ to make it two out of two

Belnaleck made it two wins out of two in the league as they rattled off the final four points to secure a 1-13 to 1-09 win over a battling Roslea side last Friday night.

In a well-contested affair, the Shamrocks held a slender one-point lead at the break, 1-06 to 1-05, and it remained tight through to the last quarter before the home side managed to gain a degree of control to push on for the win as they followed up their fine opening day victory over Enniskillen with another win.

Belnaleck Manager Colm Bradley was pleased with the way his side dug on for the win.

“Roslea came with a game plan and executed it well,” he said.

“It wasn’t a very flowing game of football at times, but we are very pleased to have dug it out. There are lots of ways to win games and sometimes you have to win scrappy games, and it is pleasing we did so.”

The Art McMurroughs are set to be without some key personnel for this week’s encounter against Derrygonnelly but he says that it is a chance for others to step up.

“Unfortunately, we will have a number of players missing against Derrygonnelly who have played both league games, to date, but we can’t complain.

“We expect other players to step up and play well. We will need 20-plus players playing well to make sure we stay in Division One,” he added.

Roslea remain pointless, having failed to take anything forward into the league from the Club Players Competition, and joint Manager Eamonn Kavanagh admits that Belnaleck were worthy of the win, although he believes that there was positives to come out of the performance.

“They were probably that wee bit better in the second half and they merited the win, and although it was disappointing to lose the game, I thought the boys battled hard and worked hard, and there were positives for us to take out of it,” he said.

The Shamrocks face another tough test this Friday when they take on Ederney.

“It is another tough one but there are no easy ones and we will battle away,” said Kavanagh.

The first half saw little between the sides, with Belnaleck taking an early advantage thanks to a Kane Connor goal, finishing low to the corner after a good move.

However, Roslea bagged a goal of their own through Niall Cosgrove, while the away side had points from Sean Quigley, Seamus Quigley, who played in goal but got forward to score from play, with Shane Lynch also registering.

Led by one

Belnaleck’s points in the first half arrived from Conor McAuley, Darragh McGurn and James Speight, but at the break Roslea led by one.

It was tit-for-tat then in the second half as McGurn and McAuley fired over for the home team while Sean Quigley and Cosgrove landed for Roslea to leave it 1-09 to 1-09.

Belnaleck were reduced to 14 men following the dismissal of Garvan Quigley, but they were able to push on for the win in the latter stages as Bryan Owens rattled over two in a row before Kane Connor and Lee Cullen clipped over points to leave four between the sides at the finish.