Corish save makes ’Beg pay the penalty
CROSSABEG AFC ROSSLARE PORT 1 1
A SUPERB late penalty save from goalkeeper Aaron Corish earned a dogged Rosslare Port outfit a precious point in their Wexford Football League Division 2 encounter at Crossabeg on Sunday.
As their frustration grew, Crossabeg were afforded the opportunity to grab the winner their efforts deserved in the 83rd minute when substitute Mark O’Connor was felled in the area.
Up stepped Will McCreevy, but Corish got a strong hand to his powerful drive to divert the ball over the bar.
Despite soaking up plenty of pressure, Port managed to get their noses in front through Jonathan Rogan early in the second-half, but substitute Ciarán Marlow drew the hosts level just before the hour mark, shortly after entering the fray.
Crossabeg had much the better of it in the opening half, looking to carve open the Port defence at every opportunity, but at times they lacked that little bit of composure in the final third.
They threatened to make an early breakthrough with eleven minutes gone when commanding centre-half Will McCreevy pumped a long ball forward to David Berney, but Corish was quickly off his line to make the block.
Two minutes later a wicked corner from Peter Culleton was steered on target by Berney, but the netminder was able to gather.
Corish had to be alert again moments later, when Shane Lawless showed blistering pace to break clear, but the goalkeeper proved he is no slouch himself by racing off his line to thwart the attacker.
The visitors rarely threatened, but the prolific Jamie McMahon is always capable of hitting the back of the net given the opportunity, and on 25 minutes he ran on to a Dean Duggan pass and fired over after his initial effort had been blocked.
Crossabeg continued to look the more likely though, and in the 34th minute Lawless hared forward before cutting inside and fizzing a shot narrowly wide, while moments later his curling effort was easily gathered by Corish. The goalkeeper’s gloves were warmed again four minutes before the break when he did well to touch a stinging long-range Will McCreevy free-kick out for a corner.
After all their first-half dominance, Crossabeg were well and truly rocked back on their heels within two minutes of the re-start.
When the ball found its way to Jonathan Rogan 30 yards out it was certainly asking to be hit, and the midfielder didn’t need a second invitation as he rifled a shot out of reach of Cathal Devereux.
After being wounded by such a sucker-punch, Crossabeg needed some inspiration, and that came in the shape of Ciarán Marlow when he was introduced in the 57th minute and pounced for the equaliser moments later.
When a Peter Culleton corner was only half cleared, it fell to Marlow and he showed superb feet to skip around a defender before curling an exquisite shot to the corner of the net.
Crossabeg looked to strike while the iron was hot and, with 66 minutes on the clock, Peter Culleton whipped in a delicious cross from the left that was just begging for a touch, but it was agonisingly out of the reach of the inrushing attackers.
Theo Doyle then headed a Mark O’Connor corner over in the 82nd minute,w and seconds later the latter was again in the thick of the action when he was taken down for a penalty.
Will McCreevy took the responsibility, but Corish was equal to his effort, stretching brilliantly to make a one-handed save.
Crossabeg continued to press for a priceless winner, but the home contingent were left scratching their heads when referee James Doyle sounded his final whistle just 20 seconds into injury time.
Their bewilderment was certainly justified as six substitutions had been made as well as a host of other delays.
However, they just had to take it on the chin and if they brush up on some aspects of their attacking play, the table-toppers should be in the promotion shake-up come the business end of the season.
Rosslare Port, who also remain unbeaten after their opening three fixtures, will also fancy their chances of making a mark, although they will need to show greater attacking ambition if they wish to mount a serious challenge.
CROSSABEG: Cathal Devereux, Eoin Kelly, Will McCreevy, Mark Crosbie, Peter Culleton, Theo Doyle, Barry Coughlan, Cian Doyle, Conor Maddock, David Berney, Shane Lawless. Subs. - Ciarán Marlow for Maddock (56), Mark O’Connor for Lawless (64).
ROSSLARE PORT: Aaron Corish, Dean Duggan, Michael Barry, Arpi Cesi, Seán McRobin, Tomás Kelly, Jonathan Rogan, Tadhg Fogarty, Steven Redmond, Seán Farrell, Jamie McMahon. Subs. - Dale O’Reilly for Fogarty (61), Mark Corish for Farrell (72), Ramish Badhan for Duggan (79), Ciarán Kehoe for Kelly (84).
REFEREE:
James Doyle.