Olowo wins it for Bay

BAY FC

PARK SUMMERHILL

STRIKER Quadri Olowo hit an extra time brace of goals to complete his hat-trick as Bay qualified for their first knockout final appearance when they defeated the holders and dashed their hopes of retaining the O’Neill Shield on Friday night

A perfect night provided the setting as Bay welcomed Summerhill for the semi final of the competition. The previous meetings between the sides ended 2-2 in Navan and 5-1 to Bay respectively, but league form counted for little.

Bay started the brighter with Olowo first testing the Summerhill ‘keeper. Sent through one on one by a delightful Paddy Connor ball, the striker smashed his shot straight at the ‘keeper who parried it away well.

Robbie Murphy was next to work the ‘keeper who gathered his low shot easily. It seemed there might be only one outcome of the tie as Bay overran their opponents at times.

But Summerhill began to get a foothold in the game after the 25 minute mark and on the half hour they nicked the opener from a good set piece. Bay were at sixes and sevens at the back after that and welcomed the half time whistle when it blew.

The break seemed to galvanise Bay as they came out the better side in the opening minutes and only for some outstanding saves by the Summerhill ‘keeper might have been ahead with Murphy, Olowo and Crespo all testing him before the hour mark.

Bay finally equalised when Crespo whipped a dangerous ball into the six yard box and Olowo squeezed it home.

Bay bombarded the Summerhill goal and just three minutes later substitute Marcel Ekwueme put them ahead. He cut inside his man and unleashed a goal bound shot only for it to take a slight deflection off a defender and spin into the top corner.

Bay’s celebrations were short lived as the visitors levelled with a thunderous strike from the edge of the box that left keeper Mullen with no chance. They clearly were in no mood to give up their title, and for all their possession Bay couldn’t find a winner and so the tie entered extra time.

Bay’s pressure finally paid off in the second period of extra time as striker Quadri Olowo struck twice for his hat-trick and emerged as the Bay hero as they look forward to contesting their first final since entering the MDL. BAY: Kevin Mullen, Robbie Rafferty, Gavin Toner, Mario Kolak, Mikey Burke (Angelo Stanley 35), Aaron Kelly, Robbie Murphy (Marcel Ekwueme 55), Paddy Connor, Johnny Winters (Ryan Dillon 80), Quadri Olowo, Alfonso Crespo.

This was a critical game on Sunday morning for both teams in terms of their season, with both needing the points for polar opposite reasons.

Newfoundwell with games in hand can overtake the teams ahead of them and move clear in the title race, while Bellurgan are trying to stave off relegation.

Their worries were increased while Newfoundwell closed the gap on the leaders Trim to five points with a goal a minute from time when the visitors looked like they were going to turn a deficit into a win.

They battled so well with their young players asked to fill the breach standing up very well to the challenge which provided a lot of encouragement despite the obvious disappointment that they can procure their safety with admittedly two tough matches to play. They were missing a number of players through injury and suspension, and also lost goal keeper Robert Arthur at the break after pulling a hamstring.

Their remaining games are both at home, with a return fixture against Newfoundwell, and the other against Ardee who are also in the relegation mix, which could decide both teams fate.

They had held the title chasers fairly comfortably in the opening half.

Newfoundwell’s best scoring chance came after ten minutes with Arthur making a great save, but Bellurgan probably should have taken the lead before the break when Daniel McDonnell took a pass from Chris Lawson down the left wing and beat his man and whipped in a great cross to the back post. Owen Armstrong met it with his head but was foiled by a brilliant save by Ronan Brown.

After a number of changes and half-time moves the ‘Well were a lot better after the break and soon took the lead when a quick free from Murphy to Divine teed up O’Connor to fire to the net.

Bellurgan rode out a wobbly period after that with O’Connor making a fine save, and with under 20 minutes left equalised, with another free-kick special by Ciaran Sheelan from the edge of the 18 yard box.

They had Newfoundwell in bother with young Gavin Gregory really posing problems, creating two opportunities to take all three points.

Agonisingly for Bellurgan, Newfoundwell exerted some late pressure and when Stephen Finnegan tried to hook clear a ball that looked like going wide, it fell straight to O’Connor again who blasted it to the net from four yards. NEWFOUNDWELL: R Brown , D Mc Donnagh , P O Boyle , S Murphy, C Reid (A Murphy), R Cashman (A Devine), D Carolan, B Kemode , C O Connor, J Kemode , A Burke (K Bull).

BELLURGAN: Robert Arthur (Tadhg O’Connor 45), Daniel O’Connor, Chris Lawson, Diarmuid Murphy, Owen Traynor, Stephen Finnegan, Gavin Gregory, Declan Sharkey (Niall Donnelly 75), Daniel McDonnell, Owen Armstrong, Ciaran Sheelan.