CAMROSS 1-10 CLONASLEE/ST. MANMAN’S 0-11
CAMROSS took pole position in Group A of the intermediate championship with just one round of matches remaining following a hard fought victory over a valiant Clonaslee side in Mountrath on Sunday morning.
Both sides seemed edgy at first and racked up a total of eight wides between them in as many minutes. Camross then got the game’s first score when Daniel Lowry pointed from the wing and this was soon followed by a free from Gearoid Burke.
Mark Rooney and Conor McEvoy hit back for Clonaslee with well taken scores but these were soon cancelled out by points from Darryl Dooley and the impressive Dean Delaney.
However, Clonaslee were determined to keep on Camross’ heals and a succession of frees from John Rowney (2) and ex-Laois star James Young, who due to injury was only fit to play in goal, put Clonaslee ahead with five minutes remaining of the half.
Camross levelled through Gearoid Burke but Clonaslee ensured that they would lead at the break on a scoreline of 0-7 to 0-5 thanks to late points.
Camross began the second half well and points from Dean Delaney and Gearoid Burke had them level. Rowney put Clonaslee back in front but they then endured a crazy five minute spell in which the match was effectively lost.
Firstly, they failed to deal with keeper Tom Dunne’s long puck out and when the ball was flicked on by Paddy Bergin into the patch of sub Kevin Lawlor, he beat Young with a low drive into the bottom corner.
Clonaslee were then reduced to 14 men when Thomas Tynan received a second yellow card for committing a late tackle on Martin Moore.
Camross looked to have killed off Clonaslee when points from Dean Delaney and Burke left three between the sides once more with five minutes remaining.
But Clonaslee, and in particular John Rowney weren’t finished yet. He popped over a point from play and a free to leave just one between the sides again as we entered injury time.
However, Clonaslee ran out of steam in the closing stages and Dean Delaney tagged over a late point to give Camross the win.