Rampart edge out Bay in five goal thriller
SOCCER DUNDALK SUMMER LEAGUE
clear of the home defence and precisely placed his low shot just inside a post.
Bay raised strong protests for offside only for the goal to stand, but the next big decision went their way when the powerful Marcel Ekwueme appeared to barge through Rian Hand and dispossess him just inside the Rampart half.
He was allowed race away on his own into the penalty box and shoot underneath Lynch to reduce the deficit two minutes from the break. Ekwueme was one of Bay’s strong performers, along with Ola Olajuba, Nevel Novosel and Mario Kolak who notched his eight goal of the season. The experienced Paul Minford also had the better of the Rampart defence in the air but his side didn’t take advantage of his dominance in this sphere.
Rampart introduced Declan Sharkey for the second half and he increased their attacking threat, with his speedy dribbling runs and incisive passing. John Smith, Lee Wright and Brendan Rogers already posed a big threat.
They should have tied up the points carving out a series off clear-cut scoring opportunities in the early stage of the second half with Wright’s virtually point blank header tipped away for a corner, and from another John Smith pinpoint point cross the striker volleyed low across goal with only McKenny to beat.
Brendan Rogers was sent racing clear of the Bay defence only for his shot to rebound off the foot of the far post, and McKenny took off a great save from Wright’s follow up shot.
Having survived this barrage, Bay retaliated strongly for Kolak to encounter double misfortunate when his diving header struck the post and another was disallowed when he found the net.
Rampart like in the first half capitalised on this let off almost straight away breaking up field and winning a penalty. Brendan Rogers with aplomb curled his left footed shot into the corner of the net while McKenny dived to the other side 13 minutes from time.
Bay refused to surrender, and Novosel beat a defender near the end line to pick out Kolak at the far post whose header despite goalkeeper’s Lynch best efforts entered the net.
Bay threw an extra man in attack as they give it their all to land an equaliser, and Rampart’s nerves weren’t eased with Brendan Rogers and Paul Gray passing up clear openings to kill off the game. Instead they were indebted to goalkeeper Lynch who advanced off his line to dive at substitute Joe Needham’s feet in the dying seconds. BAY: David McKenny, Gary Mulligan (Adam Larrigan 85), Neil Flynn, Ola Olajuba, Angelo Stanley, Marcel Ekwueme, Aaron Kelly ( Emmanuel Alozie 45), Neven Novosel, Mario Kolak, Paul Minford (Joe Needham 66), Alfonso Crespo, Other sub Peter Sweeney. Manager, Damien Bellew.
RAMPART: David Lynch, Paul Gray, Caolan Carroll, Nick McKeever, Rian Hand, Eoin McGuinness, Saheed Ogunfuwora ( Declan Sharkey 45), John Smith (Eamon Gosling 74), Lee Wright, Brendan Rogers, Eamon Rogers. Other subs Paul O’Hagan, Niall Hannify, Ronan Farrelly, Stefan Zlokapa. Manager, Raymond Pickering.
REFEREE: Turlough Maher.