Roche on rampage for Lyre with four goal heist on Cullen
Lyre 4-15
Cullen 0-7
LYRE confirmed their early season well being to craft a resounding victory over Cullen in their opening assignment to the Ducon Cup played in Banteer on Saturday last.
Following a competitive opening quarter, Lyre proceeded to take charge where their structure and efficiency hung over the proceedings. And the predatory instincts of corner forward Denis Roche
bore fruition to bag a four goal tally in the second half.
Lyre had threatened early on from a trio of well taken Timmie Murphy points. In fainess, Cullen offered potential and points to Andrew Meade and Iggy Dineen tied matters at 0-3 apiece by the 12th min.
The home side weren't having it their own way yet Lyre proceeded to tighten the screw and well worked points from Kevin Tarrant, Damien Kearney and Roche helped secure a 0-8 to 0-4 grip at the break.
Apart from a promising start, Cullen failed to get any degree of momentum going and matters worsened on the concession of an opportunist goal to Roche soon after the restart. Beyond doubt, Lyre performed very much the more convincing side with Denis Mannix, Daniel Murphy, Colm O'riordan and David Murphy to the fore.
Roche's initial pounce opened the door and the danger man another two within eight minutes that left Cullen with a hefty deficit. A Dineen point for Cullen did halt the momentum briefly yet there was no stopping the hosts.
Custodian Seán Murphy stepped up to point a 45 before Roche blasted home his fourth. Indeed Lyre never left their tempo wane and kept going at full tilt to the finish with James Twohig and David Murphy adding well taken points.
LYRE: S Murphy 0-1; S Twomey, J Mcsweeney, C Mannix; D Murphy, D Mannix, B O'keeffe; K Tarrant 0-1, C O'riordan 0-1; T Murphy 0-3, D Kearney 0-1, J Twohig 0-2; S Mannix 0-1, D Murphy 0-2, D Roche 4-3. Subs: T Mcaulliffe, S O'connor, E Buckley, S Twomey, B O'driscoll 0-1.
CULLEN: L Mullane; D Hickey, J O'sullivan, W O'keeffe; B O'connell, D D Hickey, M Fleming; C Moynihan, B Kelleher; C Dineen, S Fleming. T O'keeffe, A Meade 0-2, A Nolan, I Dineen. Subs: J O'connor.
REFEREE: D Carroll (Kanturk)
