Masterful McBride inspires

Many people would have expected that with Willow Park playing at home and bearing in mind the capabilities of both sides, that this tie would have been a close affair. However, quite the opposite occurred as St Joseph"s served up a severe thrashing to their opponents. The south Roscommon side dominated proceedings from start to finish and limited the home side to very few chances. They raced out of the blocks, looking sharp and ambitious from the off. Unsurprisingly, they took the lead early on and from there on never looked back, putting the game virtually beyond doubt by half-time with a further two goals. The second half was a quieter affair although still largely dominated by the flamboyant visiting team who, despite their comfortable position, did not become complacent, instead extending their lead with two further goals. St Joseph"s could have led as early as the second minute when Jamie McBride struck a long range effort at goal. However, his shot was rather tame and only bobbled towards the goalmouth. Nevertheless, Willow Park "keeper Ryan Keenan failed to control the ball with his feet and was forced to scramble the ball off the line. The visitors continued to attack and, with 7 minutes gone, they broke the deadlock. Jamie McBride was played through on goal down the left wing following a clever crossfield ball, and he homed in on goal, sliding the ball past Keenan at the near post to make it 1-0. At this stage, St Joseph"s were attacking in droves and so further goals seemed inevitable. With 13 minutes on the clock, the inevitability was realised as Joseph"s doubled their lead with another potent strike from the magical McBride. He controlled the ball from a right-sided cross before firing the ball past a helpless Keenan to make it 2-0. With every attack St Joseph"s presented a real threat of further goals and almost added another within a minute, but Sean McManus" shot went marginally wide of the left post. However, less than a minute later St Joseph"s managed to extend their lead further with what was an extremely impressive goal. Jamie McBride was again at the thick of the action as he played a neat ball down the left wing to David Griffin, who then cut inside and looped the ball over the head of Ryan Keenan from the edge of the box and into the back of the net to make it 3-0. With the first half drawing to a close, Willow Park finally made an impression on goal when Michael Macken hit a long range first time effort, but his shot flew straight into the arms of St Joseph"s Brandon Ryan, and so the score remained unchanged going into the break. The opening minutes of the second half were rather quiet as St Joseph"s failed to kick on from their vibrant first-half performance. However, in spite of Joseph"s slow start to the half, Willow Park failed to capitalise on their chance to make an early impact. This meant that Joseph"s were soon allowed to regain full control. The visitors began to threaten again and before long they had scored their fourth goal of the game, courtesy of Sean Fallon"s 37th minute strike. As St Joseph"s attacked the Willow Park goal from the right wing Ryan Keenan came out of his goal to try and clear the ball, however he failed to do so and became stranded, leaving Fallon with the relatively straightforward task of sliding the ball into the empty net. As the half progressed Joseph"s continued to be the dominant force and looked like adding to their already unassailable lead before the end of the game. Jamie McBride came close to scoring a hat-trick in the 48th minute, when his shot from the edge of the box bounced awkwardly in front of Keenan, very nearly finding its way inside the right post, but instead the bounce took the ball marginally wide. With the game drawing to a close it seemed to be fizzling out but, with only five minutes remaining, St Joseph"s added further insult to injury. Kyle Tobin managed to trap the ball with sublime control and then with precision elevated the ball above the keeper"s out-reaching arms and into the back of the net. This incident proved to be the final piece of action in the game as St Joseph"s maintained their lead with ease to claim a vital and surely morale-boosting league victory that they will look to build on in their next game. ST JOSEPH"S: 1. Brandon Ryan, 2. Ciaran Lennon, 3. Eoin Hannon, 4. Garry Nicholson, 5. Sean Fallon, 6. Sean McManus, 7. Jamie McBride, 8. Niall Connaughton, 9. David Griffin, 10. Callum McCormack, 13. Kyle Tobin. WILLOW PARK: 1. Ryan Keenan, 2. Kieran McGuinness, 3. Eric Tumulty, 5. Kevin Martin, 6. Darragh Coyle, 7. Ryan Rafferty, 8. Shane Fitzsimons, 9. Habib Sunsi, 10. Michael Macken, 11. Jack Ruane, 13. Neil Flynn.