Struggling Harps make

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PREMIER Division strugglers Boyne Harps took some satisfaction from this hard-earned point at United Park last Wednesday, despite conceding a stoppage-time equaliser to Trim Celtic.

Harps gave leaders Muirhevnamor a good game in their previous outing, but this was another tough test against a Trim side who knew that victory would send them top of the table.

Right from the start the Drogheda men took the game to their opponents, with strikers Steven Campbell and William Woods giving the away defence plenty of headaches as they latched onto long balls from the back.

In midfield, Jonathan Deegan and Richard Gibney were winning plenty of second balls, while Manny Smith anchored the defence and was a big presence throughout.

Left-back James Traynor got forward at every opportunity, but his crosses didn’t fall kindly for his teammates and instead were mopped up by the Trim defence.

In terms of chances, Robbie Cashman sent one shot just wide and had another saved, while at the other end a Trim player got a touch to a whipped free kick and sent the ball narrowly wide.

It was still 0-0 at the break, and on the restart Trim upped their game a notch, moving the ball a bit quicker, and that forced Harps to defend a little deeper.

Still, the hosts kept their shape and denied Trim a clear-cut chance, that was until the 70th minute when a cross was met by a firm header from their centre-forward which Harps keeper Keith McCarthy palmed wide of the post at point-blank range.

It was a key intervention, for six minutes later Harps had the lead in spectacular style. Traynor played the ball up the left side and the ball was flicked inside towards Woods, just inside the opposition half.

The ever-alert Woods spotted the Trim keeper off his line and in an instant he had sent an unstoppable half-volley over the head of the back-tracking netminder and into the net.

Inevitably, the game opened up at that stage as Trim pushed for an equaliser, and Harps nearly caught them on the counter-attack when Cashman drove a shot just over the crossbar. And Cashman