ROSLEA ................................. 2-14

BELNALECK ............................. 2-7

Roslea ended with a decisive seven points to spare over Belnaleck, the Shamrocks rousing themselves to stage a commanding finishing flourish which had them push well clear.

It had in some ways been a patchy Roslea display. They had been pushed hard enough in the first half by a determined opposition and were only two points clear at the break. In the third quarter Roslea were to dramatically up the level of their game and they scorched through for a string of scores, two goals included which bounced them far ahead.

But Roslea were to take the foot off the pedal, presumably thinking that this game was in the bag. They had that idea knocked on the head as Belnaleck managed a spirited revival which saw them cut down what had been a sizeable deficit.

There was the glimpse of a remarkable recovery on Belnaleck's part but they were unable to sustain the charge and Roslea regrouped over the final ten minutes to re assert their grip and they surged through for several points which once more left them in the comfort zone.

Brendan Sherlock and Sean Quigley were the leading lights in the Roslea forward line as between them they chipped in with ten of the fourteen points tallied. Sherlock shot all five of his scores from open play, Quigley's total a mixture of placed kicks and scores from play.

Roslea shot six points in all prior to the break but hot on their heels throughout had been a nimble opposition, points for Belnaleck coming from Martin Naan, Dermot Lewisley and Ciaran McBrien.

Roslea had missed a great chance to put more daylight between themselves and the opposition when they had been awarded a penalty on the stroke of the interval but Conor Mulligan's shot was to smack back off the crossbar.

The close nature of the contest was to be transformed in the third quarter as Roslea raided in for two goals which catapulted them far ahead. Sean Quigley notched the first as he homed in on a long ball which had been lobbed over the Belnaleck full back line.

Boosted by this, Roslea continued to press forward and were duly rewarded with a second goal, Michael Murray getting the crucial final touch in scramble.

But Roslea then went to sleep and allowed Belnaleck to make serious inroads into the gap separating the teams. Matthew McCauley drilled home a 45th minute penalty and Matthew Jackson soon slid home a second.

From a position of comfort, Roslea now found themselves with a game on their hands, but they had the ability to handle the situation and over the final minutes they again whipped up their effort, further points from the in form Sherlock and Quigley steering them to safety,

For Belnaleck, Ronan Quigley was a sound half back and Matthew Jackson did well in the corner forward slot. For Roslea as well as prolific scoretakers Quigley and Sherlock, midfielders Danny Mohan and Gregory Connolly laid a platform down in their sector and Shane McMahon marshalled the defence.