Five-star Rock still in hunt
NORTH EAST FOOTBALL LEAGUE
ROCK CELTIC TRIM TOWN 5 3
ROCK Celtic blew a three-goal lead as they made hard work of seeing off their lowly opponents at a wet and windy Sandy Lane on Friday night.
The elements played their part in the high-scoring affair, with a number of the goals aided by them, but Rock would have felt like kicking themselves if they had let victory slip from their grasp after leading 3-0 with four minutes played in the second half.
They had played with the strong wind in the first half and had only a single goal to show for their efforts, which resulted when Derek Delany’s corner kick was fumbled into his net by the visitors’ goalkeeper.
The home side continued to be very wasteful in front of goal, with Dessie McKeown the chief culprit, and it looked like it would prove costly as Trim reeled in Rock in the space of 13 minutes.
Rock’s second and third goals eventually followed within a minute of each other.
First, Daniel Kerr passed the ball into the box for Brendan Rogers to cross low and McKeown nipped in ahead of the Trim defence and delightfully flicked home a measured ball at the near post.
A minute later Oran Duffy notched his first goal for the team when his strong, high shot from outside the penalty box slipped through the Trim goalkeeper’s REDEEMER bowed out of the Tully Bookmakers Cup at the hands of Square United of Division 1.
The Dundalk side had to surrender home advantage as their pitch had sustained some damage hands.
The Trim comeback was initiated by a rasping, wind-assisted shot from more than 40 yards that flew over Shane McCoy and in underneath the crossbar, and that spurred them to score twice more to draw level with just over an hour elapsed.
However, the introduction of Liam Keenan played a key role in Rock regaining control, and a typical piece of wizardly by Delany as he waltzed past four opponents to make an opening to shoot inside the Trim box. His low shot squirmed away from the diving visitors’ goalkeeper and over the goal-line - 4-3 with nine minutes left.
Trim had a player sent off four minutes later and with time almost up a brilliant breakaway goal from a corner kick sealed the points for Rock. David Ward led the charge as he intercepted the ball in his box, raced across the half-way line and swept the ball across field to the fast-supporting Keenan, who unselfishly slipped McKeown past the lone defender standing in their way. McKeown calmly strolled into the box and guided his shot low past the goalkeeper.
The result moved Rock within three points of the Division 1 leaders as they step up their pursuit of promotion back to the top flight. ROCK: Shane McCoy, Liam McDonnell, Oran Duffy, Shane O’Callaghan, Paddy Reilly, Derek Delany, Danny Kerr (Garry Lennon 86), Brendan Rogers (Liam Keenan 71), Aidan Curtin, David Ward, Des McKeown (Mark Hanna 90). with the removal of their changing rooms.They had just the bare 11 players, but the youngsters acquitted themselves well, which augurs well. However, two mistakes were punished by Square in the first half. REDEEMER: Kyle Murphy, Andy McDermott, Niall Kelly, Conor Brennan, Stephen McGuinness, Colm Bracken, Dean McConnell, Kevin McCormack, Simon O’Shaughnessy, James Clinton, Dion Crosby.