Celtic can’t find Quay to unlock the defence
THE first stalemate of the season will not please the two leading challengers and especially Quay who played with an extra man for the last half an hour at the army pitch on Thursday night.
It was an opportunity missed for both teams to exert pressure on the champions Muirhevnamor after their game was abandoned earlier in the week and take the initiative in the title race.
Shamrocks in the circumstances will be satisfied as while Quay went a point clear at the top of the table they have two games in hand and can draw level with them if they win both.
Steven Smith was shown a straight red card for an off the ball incident in the Quay penalty box where he appeared to strike the home side’s Jimmy Byrne who received a yellow card as a result of the incident.
Thereafter Quay who overall disappointed in the second-half failed to exploit their numerical advantage with Shamrocks hardly troubled with goalkeeper Padraig Gorham pressed into making one save in the last couple of minutes from Mario Kolak following a well worked move.
That apart Shamrocks were the more likely to nab the illusive goal even after Smith was dismissed Caolon Dines was sent racing free inside the Quay penalty box and struck a low angled drive that went by the full stretch dive of Kevin Mullen only to roll past the far post.
Ironically Smith came the closest to breaking the deadlock with a thunderbolt of a shot from all of 40 yards that struck the underside of the crossbar at the angle with the post and dropped down and somehow didn’t cross the line with goalkeeper Kevin Mullen helpless in the opening ten minutes of the second period.
Shamrocks had built up the pressure on the Quay goal, with Mullen displaying excellent handling to pluck an awkward freekick from underneath his crossbar.
There was surprisingly little momentum shift with Quay with the extra man, and the visitors Dean Connell had a difficult diving opportunity at the back post with his head when an attempted clearance grazed off a Quay defender.
Shaun O’Connor, Quay’s most threatening player struck a fine volley after his side counter attacked from a corner-kick, but it wasn’t until the last couple of minutes that Quay constructed that one threatening move and Kolak’s shot was pretty much straight at Padraig Gorham.
The first half produced little in the way of exciting attacking play. Paddy Connor had a fine long range shot which scraped over the Shamrocks crossbar, while his namesake Shaun should have done better when he broke free but wasted the opening with a poor cross.
He did however, force a good full length save from Gorham.
An acrobatic attempt by Stephen Grimes at the back post after a corner kick skimmed off the fist of Kevin Mullen was as close as Shamrocks threatened to score. QUAY: Kevin Mullen, Gavin Toner, Oisin McGee, Jimmy Byrne, Sean Matthews (Brian Closkey 20), Cormac Reid, Jonathan Winters (Bernard Osbourne 45), Shaun O’Connor, Paddy Connor, Barry Carr (Mario Kolak 61), Ian Devine.
SHAMROCKS: Padraig Gorham, Dean Brown, Dermot Grier, Padraig Brown, Tommy O’Hare, Owen Armstrong, Stephen Grimes, Dean McConnell (John Smith 62),Caolan Dines, TJ Murtagh.