​Late show sees Culloville past Belleek in the Play-off round

​The five-point margin of victory for Culloville doesn’t tell the full story of a game which was tit-for-tat, and came down to super sub Niall Rowland nailing 1-1 in stoppage time to see the Blues into the last eight.

Culloville came into the game under-strength, with key man Ryan Garvey out injured, and the Rowlands – Feargal and Niall – only fit to come in off the bench.

The first quarter of the game was fairly pedestrian, with only four points scored before the first water break on a warm afternoon.

Sean McCreesh got the first for Belleek, after the referee Neil McGeown overruled his umpire, before Colm Watters replied for Culloville. Callum O’Neill and Dara Quinn then traded frees.

However, the game opened up more in the second quarter, with Ryan Duffy paying off an impressive solo run with a score, before Taidgh O’Neill pushed Culloville into a two-point lead.

Then, Sean McCreesh fired Belleek ahead on 22 minutes, when Callum O’Neill’s long ball bounced over the head of Daire Dooley and allowed the corner forward to race through one on one. He had a lot of time to think about it, but made no mistake and blasted his shot into the roof of the Culloville net to send Belleek back in front.

A James McParland pointed mark extended their lead, but Watters got his second in response, after he jinked his way past three defenders.

However, Belleek finished strongest at the end of the half, with scores from Conor McKevitt and Callum O’Neill (free) putting them into a 1-5 to 0-5 lead at the break.

Belleek continued their strong end to the first half, with an equally impressive start to the second, and points from Callum O'Neill (free) and Drew McVerry made it a five-point lead.

However, they then began sleep walking, and didn’t score again for over 26 minutes.

Despite that, their goalkeeper Rory Craven made two outstanding saves at his near post, denying both Duffy and Feraghal Traynor goals.

But Belleek’s lack of potency up top allowed Culloville to gradually chip away at their lead and get back on level terms after scores from Quinn (three), Steven McCreesh and Colm Watters coming into the final minutes – even despite losing Shane Carragher to a red card.

It had been a long time since their last score, but when Callum O’Neill converted at the beginning of stoppage time, Belleek thought they were on their way to victory.

But Niall Rowland had other ideas.

He received a long kick pass into the forward line, turned away from his marker and buried a shot low and hard past Craven to put Culloville two up late on.

That knocked the wind out of Belleek and Culloville rattled off three more scores through Niall Rowland, Watters and Traynor.

SCORERS

Belleek: Sean McCreesh (1-1), Callum O’Neill (0-4, 3f), Conor McKevitt (0-1), James McParland (0-1, 1m), Drew McVerry (0-1).

Culloville: Niall Rowland (1-1), Dara Quinn (0-4, 2f, 1’45), Colm Watters (0-4), Ryan Duffy (0-1), Steven McCreesh (0-1), Taidgh O’Neill (0-1), Fearghal Traynor (0-1).