Rosemount edge out Maryland in close contest

In the end a five-point win for Rosemount, but the 'black and amber' were made to work extremely hard for their second win of their Westmeath IFC campaign at Caulry GAA on Sunday afternoon.

The first of two games played at the Mount Temple venue attracted sizeable support from both clubs with Rosemount looking to add to their opening victory over St Mary's Rochfortbridge, while Maryland hoped for their first win in Section B of this year's championship.

A squally wind blowing across the pristine pitch surface made playing conditions difficult with Maryland opting to have the elements, to a degree, in their favour in the opening half.

However, it was Rosemount who opened the scoring on two minutes when Ben Cox pointed. Long serving Maryland talisman Callum McCormack replied on six minutes when he pointed a free before William Reynolds outpaced the Rosemount defence to a put his team into the lead.

Ben Martin extended Maryland's lead on nine minutes, before Rosemount wing-back Cathal Byrne finished his driving run from his defensive berth to reduce the deficit. Reynolds, who was proving problematic for the Rosemount defence, added his second of the contest on 13 minutes before the game's first goal arrived on 18 minutes.

Rosemount's Andy Geoghegan caused the green flag to be raised, but it followed impressive work from Lorcan Daly who turned over possession enabling the wing-forward to finish calmly to the Maryland net.

Declan Mullen complemented Geoghegan's goal with a pointed free on 20 minutes as Rosemount found their stride, but McCormack reduced the deficit to the minimum on 22 minutes when he too pointed a free.

An evenly poised contest had its second goal on 24 minutes when Matthew Cox was deemed to have been fouled in the penalty area and his brother Ben made no mistake from the resulting penalty, awarded by referee Shane Carroll.

The goal extended Rosemount's lead to four points, but it was to be the eventual winner's last score of the opening 30 minutes as Maryland dominated the closing period of the half.

McCormack converted a placed ball and that and a two-pointer free from Adam Smyth were added to by points from Joe Harte and Kallum Nugent as Maryland led at the interval by one point (0-10 to 2-3).

Maryland continued in a similar vein at the start of the second half when Smyth put Colm Seery in the clear and the wing-back fisted over the bar. Mullen responded immediately for Rosemount before Padraig Geoghegan levelled proceedings on 40 minutes.

Ben Cox added to his account to restore Rosemount's lead before two points in quick succession from McCormack levelled matters once again midway through the second period when he pointed majestically with his left foot.

The contest was now an end-to-end affair and when the impressive Boidu Sayeh broke through the Maryland cover it seemed a goal was inevitable, but goalkeeper Eoin Moran dived low to push the goal opportunity behind for a '45' from which Mullen pointed.

Sayeh was becoming more influential as the game progressed and he extended his team's lead to three points on 53 minutes when popping over a two-pointer. The score fuelled Rosemount's belief, but their control of the contest was checked on 56 minutes when Carroll awarded a penalty to Maryland.

As parity seemed destined to be restored to the game, Smyth saw his low shot saved by Rosemount custodian David Fox. The Maryland midfielder made amends for his miss when pointing a '45' on 57 minutes as the game ebbed towards its conclusion.

The drama had yet to end, however, and three minutes into injury time, with two points between the teams, Smyth had the opportunity to level the contest with a free from outside the arc, but it dropped just wide of the target.

Now pressing up for an equalising score opportunity, Maryland were made to pay when a well constructed passage of play involving Liam Maxwell and Mullen released Sayeh into the clear and he sealed the win for his team with a controlled left foot finish.

Scorers - Rosemount: B Cox and B Sayeh (1tp) 1-2 each; A Geoghegan 1-0; D Mullen 0-3 (2f, 1 '45'); C Byrne and P Geoghegan 0-1 each. Maryland: C McCormack 0-4 (3f); A Smyth 0-3 (1tpf); W Reynolds 0-2; J Harte, B Martin, K Nugent and C Seery 0-1 each.

Rosemount - David Fox; Darragh Healy, Padraic Nestor, Luke Kelly; Lorcan Daly, Boidu Sayeh, Cathal Byrne; David McCormack, Eamon Boland; Andy Geoghegan, Padraig Geoghegan, Ben Cox; Liam Maxwell, Declan Mullen, Matthew Cox. Subs: Plunkett Maxwell for P Geoghegan (56).

Maryland - Eoin Moran; Jake Nugent, Darren Malynn, Christy Hermbusche; Liam Moran, Kieran Martin, Colm Seery; Conor Lowry, Adam Smyth; George Nugent, William Reynolds, Kallum Nugent; Joe Harte, Callum McCormack, Ben Martin. Subs: Kevin Dolan for J Nugent (19); Keith Malynn for K Nugent; Kenny Kincaid for G Nugent.

Ref: - Shane Carroll (Caulry).