Murtagh on the mark for dee-lighted St Dominic’s
ST DOMINIC’S 1 ARDEE CELTIC 0
ST DOMINIC’S caused an upset as Ardee left Bellew Park empty handed after this under-15 league match.
The sides are in the bottom half of the table but Dominic’s with a meagre one win from eight games were just a place off the bottom, while Ardee with a game less played were 12 points ahead and five places above them before this encounter.
In the first half the play reflected the respective standings of the sides, with Ardee the side in the ascendency, dominating the attacking play.
But as so often happens they paid the price for not translating this superiority into goals
Saint Dominic’s drew encouragement and were a different side after the break with Ardee’s confidence slipping and their play likewise as a quite stark reversal took place and when the winners scored midway through the second half it was quite on the cards.
It was a spectacular effort by central defender Patrick Murtagh as he curled a shot from some yards outside the penalty box into the far top corner of the net.
The strike proved decisive but Dominic’s wouldn’t have been flattered had they scored at least once more with Shay Coleman failing to convert a free header from close range from a corner kick.
It was much different in the opening half with Gerard Burton putting a free header over the Dominic’s crossbar in the early minutes, and there were a number of helter skelter moments in the winners penalty box.
One resulted when a surging run by Shane Carpenter took him past three or four players deep into the Dominic’s penalty box to the right of goal and pulled the ball back low for Brandon Collins to have his shot blocked.
Matchwinner Murtagh made a great recovery run and tackle to thwart another scoring threat at the expense of a corner kick,
As against the many Ardee scoring opportunities Shay Coleman had Dominic’s only real chance, when a kick out was hit straight to him, but his shot was weak and didn’t trouble the Ardee goalkeeper.
It was a brief interruption in the attacking trend as closer to the break Ardee’s Jamie Ward shot wide at the end of a finely constructed move, while Conal Brady made a timely intervention in front of his goal to relieve the danger from Carpenter’s cross.
Ardee continued to threaten after the break with Mikal Pjozwo shooting over the crossbar, and the winners survived a nervous episode when goalkeeper Callum Mulholland was put under pressure from a pass back. His timely runs out of his box in the first half to make clearances was important in keeping the score blank. ST DOMINIC’S: Callum Mulholland, George Maas, Aaron Crawford, Paddy Murtagh, Jack Conlon, Mark Mcshane, Brian Brady, Gareth Quinn, Shay Coleman, Alex Mcgorrian, Darren Mcdonnell, Aaron Mulholland, Rory O’connor, Conal Brady. Manager, Brian Brady.
ARDEE CELTIC: Cormac Rogers, Brian Callaghan, Adam Alfaadi, Evan Maher, Kyle Whelan, Shane Carpenter, Sam O Callaghan, Pauric Mckinney, Brandon Collins, Gerard Burton, Jamie Ward, Richard Rogers, Finn Kelly, Jamie Englishby, Mathew Bagnall, Dylan Corrigan, Mikal Pjozwo. Manager, Pat Ward.
REFEREE, Colm McConville.