Quigley's Point take all three
points 28.01.09
Carndonagh...1
(Tabb 90+2)
Quigley’s Point Swifts...2
(Wallace 15, A McColgan 81)
By Liam Porter, Inishowen
Independent, at St Patrick's Park
SOMETIMES in football the outcome of a game can
rest on the narrowest of margins. That wee rub of the
green that just tips a game one way or another despite
the best efforts of the other team to prevent it.
Such was the case in Carndonagh on Sunday, because
having made a simply magnificent point blank save to
deny Eamon Reddin a certain goal in the 81st minute,
goalkeeper Ritchie Cunningham surely deserved to have
any slice of good fortune that would follow.
Instead, while he had barely time to suck in another
breath and drag himself back off the floor, the loose
ball had found its way to the feet of QPS sub Adrian
McColgan and he had somehow sneaked it past despairing
defenders and keeper to put his side two goals ahead. |
McColgan’s shot might even
have taken a deflection as it sneaked its way in at the
near post, but that didn’t matter and Carndonagh who had
bravely resisted in the first half but who matched their
opponents in the second, had the wind taken from their
sails.
Bravely they battered forward in the last ten minutes,
but by the time their substitute Brendan Tabb had
hammered the ball high into the roof of the net, there
was barely time to muster even another chance, never
mind another goal.
Still, if anything, Carndonagh can take heart for this
performance, and if hard work and determination can lift
them off the bottom of the table, then displays like
Sunday’s could well see them chalk up some much needed
points in the weeks ahead.
Quigley’s Point, still in the thick of things at the top
end of the table, will be happy with the three points
but hardly with the performance which seemed to pass one
or two of their players by completely.
They certainly had the lion’s share of the possession,
especially in the first half when keeper McGeady barely
touched the ball, but apart from that one late and
magnificent save, they certainly didn’t over work the
Carndonagh keeper. |
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That was due, it must be
said, in no small part to the magnificent display at the
heart of the home defence by Kevin Hirrell and Cathal
O’Kane who won header after header and made tackle after
tackle to snuff out the Point’s front men.
The one header they didn’t win in the first half however
cost them dearly. Raymond Buchanan’s finely flighted
ball to the back post was powerfully headed home by
Kevin Wallace and Point had the lead in the 15th minute.
Based on possession alone it was a deserved lead, but as
far as chances were concerned the visitors hadn’t been
able to carve any out. An earlier header from Terry
McColgan flew well off target in the 4th minute while
Seanan McColgan’s whipped in corner in the 29th minute
might have caused concern, but still flew past everyone
and wide to safety.
With the narrowest of leads the visitors needed to find
away past the home side in the second half, but
encouraged by their own battling performance, instead
the home side pressed.
Their first corner of the game in the 52nd minute saw
McGeady fumble Niall McLaughlin’s driven ball, but the
Point defence was alert to the danger and hammered the
ball to safety.
McGeady punched away another corner from McLaughlin on
the hour, but as far as clear cut chances got, that was
about as good as it was for either side.
Point sub Sean Harkin saw a shot blocked by Philip
Doherty in the 68th minute but the breakthrough didn’t
come until the 81st minute. Seanan McColgan’s determined
run down the right created the opening and it looked as
if his cross would be headed home by Reddin until
Cunningham somehow saved. When Adrian McColgan squeezed
in the second goal from the rebound it looked as if the
Point were home and dry.
In fact it even looked like that at the death despite a
late onslaught from Carndonagh but a quick corner to
Philip Doherty caught them napping and when they failed
to clear their lines Hirrell played in Tabb and he
blasted past McGeady.
With less than a minute remaining Carn worked hard to
get the ball back and then back into the Point box, but
they failed to carve out another chance and the Point
held on for the win.
Carndonagh: Ritchie Cunningham, Paddy McGuinness,
Philip Doherty, Kevin Hirrell, Cathal O’Kane, Andrew
Doherty, Brian Lafferty, Darren Loftus, Darren Burke,
John Doherty, Niall McLaughlin. Subs: Paul Canny for
McGuinness (42 mins), Brendan Tabb for Burke (53 mins).
QPS: David McGeady, Oisin McColgan, Kevin
Wallace, Dean Barron, Shaun McLaughlin, Paul Grant,
Terry McColgan, Eamon Reddin, Raymond Buchanan, Donny
Bell, Seanan McColgan. Subs: Adrian McColgan for Wallace
(57 mins), Sean Harkin for Bell (67 mins), Aidan Lynch
for Buchanan (79 mins).
For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the
Inishowen Independent. |
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