Ryan saves Rock in ding dong clash
ROCK CELTIC BELLURGAN UNITED 0 0
A goalless stalemate that belied the play and largely the credit for that lay with the heroics of home goalkeeper Ryan McCutcheon.
He pulled off a string of crucial saves, a number in the closing stages to enable his side hold out in this under-11 league match at Sandy Lane on Saturday.
After a fairly even first-half when both sides had good chances to score, the Peninsula side took a stranglehold on the play but couldn’t find the elusive goal as they sought to press home their advantage.
It was nick and tuck to begin with with Conal Duffy sending a free header from in front of the goal line over the crossbar from a corner kick by David Shevlin, and then Macah Mwape nearly forced his way through inside the visitors penalty box.
Bellurgan responded for Josh Conlon to knock the ball over the home crossbar when McCutcheon under pressure palmed it down close to his goal.
Rock had another great chance from a corner kick by this time Duffy to the far post where Alex O’Kane on his own headed wide..
Then McCutcheon at full stretch denied Sean O’Hare at the other end , and the Rock goalkeeper was thankful when he could only parry Conal Shields free-kick, a colleague managed to clear.
The second half began in much the same fashion with Jamie Soraghan going ever so close to putting Rock ahead when he stabbed a corner kick against the near post.
But Bellurgan hit back with Nathan Carney unleashing a fine strike from outside the box, and then as they turned the screw Josh Conlon was denied by a combina- tion of McCutcheon and the post, and blazed the resulting loose ball across the face of a gaping goal.
This was a big let off for Rock, who had to withstand increasing pressure, and survived a number of hair raising moments. It was fitting that McCutcheon secured a draw with a terrific save in the last seconds.
ROCK: Ryan McCutcheon, Jamie Soraghan, Conail Duffy, David Shevlin, Alex O’Kane, Shea Neary, Macah Mwape, Jake Logan, Cormac Broe, Ralph Tinsley, Ben McKeown. Manager, Darrell O’Kane
BELLURGAN: Dan Ferguson, Sean Holland, Nathan Carney, Oran Murphy, Conail Shields, Josh Conlon, Miceal O’Shaughnessy, Caolan Murphy, Sean O’Hare, Ronn Donnelly, Kieran Finnegan. Manager, Darren Murphy.