Rock’s survival hopes suffer a big blow

KINGSCOURT 2 ROCK CELTIC 0

ROCK Celtic’s long tenure in the premier division of the North East League is in serious jeopardy following defeat in their crucial relegation showdown with Kingscourt Harps.

The seasiders left themselves a mountain to climb, going nine games before winning their first points in December.

To their credit the fomer premier division kingpins rallied gallantly, but that terrible early-season run left them with little room for manoeuvre.

The priceless points from this clash saw Kingscourt swap places with them with Rock now occupying the second automatic relegation spot.

They do still have a game in hand on their Cavan rivals and a win there would draw them level.

The three matches they have left to play are all at home, but are all daunting assignments against Navan Cosmos, Quay Celtic and fellow strugglers Duleek.

Two goals in the first 20 minutes effectively settled the outcome of this game which Rock started once again without a recognised goalkeeper.

Captain Conor Rafferty took over again between the posts, and he was sent off five minutes from the end after receiving a second yellow card, leaving Jack Reid to take over the jersey.

Rock tried hard to retrieve the deficit, and put in a strong finish when they came close to scoring on a number of occasions and had a claim for a penalty waved away when Derek Delany had a shot blocked on the goal line, by a defender whom they felt handled the ball.

Delany also had a goal bound shot deflected on to a post, while David Ward’s control let him down when a ball was played over the top of the home defence.

Paddy Reilly’s shot from the edge of the box flew just narrowly wide in another chance for the seasiders. ROCK CELTIC: Conor Rafferty, Brendan Rogers, Jack Reid, Ross Quigley, Ed Maguire, Paddy Reilly, Phelim Joyce (Oisin Meegan), John Pietra, Tomiwa Badun (Kitzito Ekwueme), Derek Delany, David Ward. Other subs Garry Lennon, Maburak Adewuemi.