White’s Cross held on for a narrow one point victory to keep the three-in-row City division championship dream alive. In truth, the first twenty minutes of this game belonged to Lough Rovers. Their forwards looked dangerous every time they got the ball and when they went 1-06 to 0-03 points at half time, the score line did not flatter them in the slightest. However, the defending champions settled. Padraig Murnane and John O’Connell who were under pressure early on began to settle and mopped up a lot of ball in the full back line. This quelled the Lough Rovers scoring threat considerably. It was up to others out the field to respond to the challenge that the Lough put up. A few scores before half time from Conor Buckley left only a goal in it at the half time break.

The introduction of two substitutes made a massive difference to the outcome of this game. Ross Murphy added a lot of pace to the half forward line and was tenacious in his tackling and brought a savage work rate while in the full-forward line Sean Twomey made a huge difference and had a key part in the vital scores. In the 47th minute his run into the box and shot brought a fine save from the Lough keeper before Eoin Murnane scrambled in a goal from the break. Minutes later Twomey made a great run again before this time finishing for his own well taken goal. These scores put White’s Cross in the lead for the first time; a lead that they would not relinquish. Credit to Lough Rovers for responding immediately with another goal. However, it was Sean Twomey again who got the next score with an outstanding point from play. Conor Buckley scored a penalty in the 50th minute after Eoin Murnane was fouled to leave four points in it 3-10 to 2-09. This was to be the final score as once again Lough, now down to 14 men, battled ferociously to get back into the game. They scored the last three points of the match and tried hard to force and equaliser. The sound of the final whistle was a big relief to the White’s Cross crowd.

Team: Shane Cahill, Derek O’Connor, John O’Connell, Pádraig Murnane, Breandán Murnane , Murt Kelleher, James Cooney (0-02-0-01 free), Donncha Murnane, Robert McElhinney, Ruairí Murnane, Kevin Buckley, Conor Buckley (1-07 – 1-05 frees), Sean Murnane, Eoin Murnane (1-00), Cormac O’Flynn. Subs, Seán Twomey (1-01) for Sean Murnane, Ross Murphy for Ruairí Murnane, Ronan Aherne for Cormac O’Flynn