Quay win for Harps boosts title bid
QUAY CELTIC BOYNE HARPS 0 3
IN the big game of the weekend in the NEFL Premier Division the leaders Boyne Harps comfortably completed the double over thirdplaced Quay to boost their own title credentials.
Building a solid 3-0 cushion before the break, Wayne Wright’s charges never looked like surrendering it at Clancy Park on Friday night, although the home side came much more into the game in the second half.
Boyne absorbed the pressure exerted by Quay quite easily, and had a great opportunity to increase their winning margin five minutes from the end, but home goalkeeper Fergal Sheekey came up trumps in a one-on-one situation.
A blotch on the visitors’ win then followed when late substitute Mickey Matthews was red-carded following a clash with Quay player Aaron Comerford.
It was a much changed Quay side from the one that snatched a draw the previous Sunday in injury time, with six players missing from the starting XI against Duleek. That point had moved them up to third position and they were three games unbeaten.
But they very much played second fiddle to the Drogheda side in the first half and the breakthrough came approaching the mid-way point when Carter made a delightful turn and shot home from the edge of the 18-yard line.
They then scored twice in seven minutes around the half-hour mark, neither of which goal Quay will be happy about conceding.
Unchallenged, Harps central defender Luke McDonnell bundled a corner kick over the line inside the six-yard box, and then Carter broke free inside the penalty box to the right of goal, with the Quay back three all at sea. From a difficult enough angle to the right of the target he slammed the ball inside goalkeeper Sheekey’s near post.
QUAY: Fergal Sheekey, Pauric Browne, Stefan McKevitt , Dean Sheil, Stephen Kilcoyne, Sean Hand, Danny Coyle, Eanna McArdle, Conail McArdle, Aaron Comerford, Vinnie Smith. Subs John Rogers, Andrew Duffy, Sean Matthews, Johnny Lynch.
BOYNE: Ryan Brown, Kevin Walsh, James Trainor, Austin McCann, Luke McDonnell, Tom Reilly, Stephen Carter, Darren McCann, Manny Smith, Martin Kelly, Nathan Llewelynm. Subs: Mickey Matthews, Dean Fitzgerald, Alan Wilton, Barry Reynolds, David Woods.