Friel on fire as Rosenallis defeat Stradbally in the opening round of the Laois SFC

Rosenallis put on a superb display of football in the LOETB Centre of Excellence this evening as they got past Stradbally.

Nevill Dunne’s side dominated the game start to finish and never let Stradbally get any sort of momentum in the game.

Rosenallis 1-13

Stradbally 0-9

Rosenallis came flying out of the blocks and Charlie Friel opened the scoring within 60 seconds. They then rattled the back of the Stradbally net a minute later to give Rosenallis a perfect start. Diarmuid Dooley got the goal with Friel being the creator.

To their credit, Stradbally responded well to their slow start and got the next three scores. Colm Begley pointed from a free and from play while Tom Shiel pointed a free having replaced Damian Murphy, who went off injured.

Rosenallis followed suit and got three points of their own without reply. Friel got a second free before Brian Fitzpatrick kicked over a wonderful score. Matthew Bennett fisted the ball over the bar after 20 minutes as Rosenallis led 1-4 to 0-3. Stradbally full-back Liam Knowles came forward to raise a white flag after a superb long-range effort. Friel and Sheil traded frees with Jack Claffey getting the final score of the half from a placed ball as Rosenallis held a four-point lead at the break.

Having scored the final point of the first-half, Claffey also got the opening point of second period with John O’Loughlin adding his first point to give them a six-point lead. Ronan Creery got a point back for Stradbally but Rosenallis kept adding scores through Claffey (free) and Friel. Jody Dillion and Tom Shiel pointed for Stradbally to leave five between them again. Man of the match Friel was to the fore yet again as he pointed a 45’ and a free from long-range.

Liam Knowles kicked a second point from full-back but it was goals Stradbally needed and with Ruaidhri C-Fennell playing as a sweeper, Stradbally couldn’t crest any goal scoring opportunities. Friel kicked his seventh point late on from a free as Rosenallis won 1-13 to 0-9.

They’ve been drawn to play Ballyroan-Abbey in the Winners’ Section with Stradbally to face Clonaslee St Manman’s in the Losers’ section.