Seniors Progress in Championship

20 June 2006

Maghery took on Carrickcruppin in the replay of the first round Championship match in Abbey Park last Thursday evening. The Loughshore men had the dream start to the game: 3 points from Paul Forker, 1 from Seamus Forker and another from captain Kieran Rafferty giving them a 5-1 lead about 10 minutes into the game.

Cruppin responded well however and managed to bring the scores level with 4 unanswered points. A great catch by Joe Fox resulted in the ball finding Seamus Forker who popped over a lovely score with his left foot to regain Maghery the lead. Both teams failed to convert all their chances and with Cruppin registering another from a free just before half time, the teams went in for the break level at 6 points each.

If Maghery had let their lead slip in the first half, their dominance of the second half would prove that they were determined not to let the same thing happen again. Eamon Cusack popped over a free to open his tally for the evening soon after the restart. Some great teamwork between Conor and Paul Forker found the latter straight through on goal and he certainly made no mistake when given the chance to drive the ball past the Cruppin goalkeeper.

This gave Maghery an extra boost in confidence and they followed it up by another score from Paul Forker and one from Seamus Forker to put a 6 point gap between the sides. Maghery were totally dominant at this point and with Eamon Toye leading the defence and Kieran Rafferty the dominant playmaker around the centre of the park, Cruppin found it hard to get their game off the ground; only registering two points in the second half. Eamon Cusack polished off the Maghery scoring tally with a great score from play to put five between the teams at the end of the game.

Final score: Maghery 1:10, Carrickcruppin 0:08.

This was an excellent performance from the Maghery side who showed great heart and team spirit throughout the match. Congratulations to the team and mentors and good luck as they progress in the Senior Championship. It was great to see a return to form and long may it continue.