Brave Bay bow out
ALBION ROVERS BAY FC 1 0
A goal on the half hour secured victory on Thursday night for second division leaders Albion over their third division counterparts to advance to the second round of the Fitzsimons Cup.
At a rain swept Monasterboice there was some excellent football on show from both sides in the opening half.
Kevin Scollon dragged a snap shot just wide for Bay, while Evan Corlett who was to prove the home side’s matchwinner, went close in the opening 20 minutes.
Most of the play was concentrated in the middle with both sets of midfields cancelling each other out leaving chances for the strikers at a premium.
The deadlock was broken when Corlett broke the offside trap and finished well beyond ‘keeper Mullen
Albion went on to have the better of the remainder of the half, but didn’t trouble Mullen.
Bay upped their game in the second half, but while they had the lion’s share of possession didn’t test the Albion keeper enough.
However, one gilt edge chance fell for Bay near the end when Crespo smashed a ball across the six yard box, but Brian McCloskey couldn’t stretch enough to get contact and the ball went wide.
Overall it was an even affair which could have went either way.
BAY: Kevin Mullen, Robbie Rafferty, Brian McCloskey, Mario Kolak, Angelo Stanley (Mikey Burke 45), Aaron Kelly, Kevin Scollon (Gavin Toner 60), Johnny Winters, Paddy Connor (Alfonso Crespo 65), Mark Larkin, Robbie Murphy.