Seniors
31st Jul 2014
Glenravel 1-13 v O’Donnells 2-4 This was a crunch game for the Senior’s, and they more than rose to the occasion. We stamped our authority on the game as we tapped over 6 early points before O’Donnells registered a score. Declan Traynor got the ball rolling as Josh, Connor and Declan Diamond all contributed to the 6. We had to contend with some strange decisions from the ref as he gifted the first score to O’Donnells when he changed a free for Glenravel to a free for O’Donnells right in front of the goals. The team worked hard all night as they shifted a series of heavy and repeated tackles which went unpunished. The way to answer such tactics was demonstrated on the scoreboard as we added 3 more points to the half time whistle. The O’Donnell’s goal was disappointing as we got caught “ball watching” and the attacker drifted behind our cover to slot to the net. In typical fashion this galvanised the O’Donnell cry but Declan Traynor roared back with 2 fine points to keep our momentum going as we turned around 0-9 to 1-1 in front. Shortly after the start of the second half, Joe skipped through for a trademark score to raise the crowd. O’Donnells responded with 2 scores to get them back in the game. At this stage they could have kicked on but with some fine fetching from Conor Carey and David Higgins we started to squeeze the game. This resulted in a great move out of defence from Mark O’Connor with a fine ball to Connor McNeill who dummied his man and then spotted David bursting his gut to get to get into the square and palm to the net, Fr Maginn Park erupted with noise as we followed this up with another score from Declan Traynor. Whilst the young fellas were getting their names on the score sheet, it was the work of Kieran McKeown which stood out across the pitch; he popped up at full back one minute and then would be on the end of a move to provide an assist at the other end, a great captain’s performance. He was also repeatedly fouled but kept his cool to drive the team on. At this stage O’Donnell’s started to go for goals but our defence stood firm under the high ball. Eventually they got a late goal and point to add a little gloss to their score but it was too late to make any difference. Many thanks for the big support, it was great to hear the “Magees roar” as we go into our preparations for the championship Saturday week. Panel: Niall Black, Andy McLarnon, Paul McCurry, Mark O’Connor, Conor Carey, Martin Mulholland, Niall Swann, Joe Scullion, David Higgins, Declan Diamond, Josh McKeown, Joshua Quinn, Connor McNeill, Kieran McKeown, Declan Traynor, Ronan Higgins, Daryl Reid, Damien O’Hagan, Jonathan Fyfe, Aidan O’Donnell, Neil McCafferty, Gareth McKeown, Ally McKeown.