Belcoo 2-07 Roslea 0-09

For the second week in a row Belcoo came from behind at half-time to pick up a win and secure a semi-final spot in the CADCO Intermediate Championship.

At half-time Belcoo were sitting bottom of Group A as they trailed Roslea by one point.

But by the end of the 60 minutes, they had moved to the top of the table thanks to a much improved second-half display.

It did not look promising for the winners in the game's early stages as Roslea dominated the ball and moved into a four-point lead.

Diarmuid McAleer took a ball off the shoulder and fired over from distance after Roslea took control of the ball from the throw-in.

Belcoo found it difficult to break forward in difficult conditions as Shane Lynch doubled the lead after five minutes.

It was 0-03 to no score a few minutes later as Niall Cosgrove reacted quickest to a blocked Lynch shot to point before McAleer hit his second off the game with another fine effort from the right.

After more than 20 minutes of football, Belcoo finally got their opening score as Ciarán Flaherty got space on the right and curled over a point.

And they were level minutes later as they hit their first goal.

Flaherty played in Eoin Leonard on the run and his ball over the top was perfectly weighted to Josh Killilea but his shot was well saved by Oisin Boyle.

The rebound was picked up by Roslea’s Martin Beggan but his attempted pass was intercepted by Eoin Corrigan who cooly finished to the net, 1-01 to 0-04.

Roslea did end the half ahead as Brendan Sherlock got out in front of his man before turning and pointing.

Like the previous week against Tempo, Belcoo started the second-half strongly and were level early on as Ethan Butler pointed before Lawrence McKeown put Belcoo into the lead for the first time with a score from distance.

Niall Clerkin curled over a brilliant mark to restore parity from the next attack, 0-06 to 1-03.

But it was short-lived as Conor McAloon found space and was played in by Gerard McHugh to score.

Flaherty then played a quick 1-2 with Eoin Shiels to find the target.

Belcoo then moved into a five-point lead with their next attack.

Roslea were on the attack but McHugh managed to get a hand to intercept a ball and break forward. He then laid the ball off to McKeown who found the bottom corner and it was 2-05 to 0-06.

Roslea responded well and hit points from two Niall Clerkin frees to leave a goal between the sides.

But McKeown would hit another brilliant score as the game entered the final 10 minutes and this was followed by Flaherty’s third point of the day.

Roslea needed goals but could only manage one more point from a Clerkin free as Belcoo clinched their semi-final place while Roslea will take on Irvinestown in the quarter-final.

At half-time, Belcoo manager, Mickey McGillen was far from happy with his side but was delighted with how they turned the game around.

“A great achievement by the boys to get over the line against Roslea. Very, very happy for them, the whole squad and the management. Delighted that we are top of the group and straight into the semi-finals,” he said and with three weeks before the next match he said his squad will regroup and hopefully get rid of any injuries.

Reflecting on the game, McGillen said: “I thought we were poor in the first-half. Our decision-making, our handling, and our general play were sloppy.

“The goal in the first-half did settle us a bit. Going in 1-01 to five points we were happy considering the way we played.”

He continued: “Second-half I thought we were the better team by far keeping Roslea to four points in a half of football.

“Our play was much better and our leaders shone and there were some great performances in our defence and midfield.

“So we are really looking forward to the semi-final.”