Muirhevnamor won’t surrender without a fight

BOASTING a full squad for the first time in a while, Muirhevnamor signalled their intent not to surrender their title without a fight with this hard-fought away win at the League headquarters on Friday night.

The champions’ form has been ragged, but they are only three points behind the joint leaders Trim Celtic and Boyne Harps, and just how important it is to have a panel to call upon was underlined in this match, as the changes they made were influential in the outcome.

Club captain Jimmy Cooney, still recovering from a long-term injury, came to their aid by deputising in goal and lent much in marshalling the side. Regular goalkeeper Michael Cooney was ruled out with a shoulder injury picked up in the previous week’s Cup win over Bay and his brother David, his natural replacement, was not available.

Nathan Murphy, the former Dundalk full-back, also became the latest addition to link up with the squad, making his debut.

The visitors made a fast start to take the lead after 10 minutes and created as many as four other openings in that spell. The goal resulted from a wellworked move started by Brian Begley and carried on by the returning Billy Smith and another recent signing, Ben McLaughlin. The latter whipped the ball to the back post where Brendan Hughes headed back across goal for Mickey O’Hare to apply a fine finish.

McLaughlin was really causing OMP a lot of problems, but once the champions went ahead they stopped playing, and OMP turned the tables.

First they won a penalty, conceded by the luckless Chris Caulfield when the ball bounced up and struck his hand, and the hosts equalised from the spot.

They capitalised then on an unfortunate slip by Adrian Rafferty to go into the break in front.

The champions wrung the changes from early in the second half, introducing more firepower in the shape of Stephen Fisher and Tiarnan Mulvenna, as they changed formation to play with three defenders.

They exerted strong pressure on the OMP defence, and it yielded its reward with the equaliser after 65 minutes. It came from the game’s second spot kick, which Billy Smith slammed to the net.

The visitors made further changes, bringing on Paudie Hearty up front after he had returned the previous week following a long lay-off.

The decisive goal arrived 11 minutes from time when Fisher put the ball into the box after a corner kick, Adrian Rafferty flicked it down and Mulvenna hit a bullet-like volley to the net. MUIRHEVNAMOR: Jimmy Cooney, Brian Begley, Adrian Rafferty, Chris Caulfield, Nathan Murphy (Tiarnan Mulvenna, Steven Smith), Philip Duffy, Colin Hoey (Paudie Hearty), Brendan Hughes (Stephen Fisher), Ben McLaughlin (Conor Gorman), Mickey O’Kane, Billy Smith. Sub not used: Niall Hearty.