Quay take wind out of Rock’s sails

WITH both sides with full points something had to give at Sandy Lane and it was the Seasiders who yielded as Quay ended their winning sequence and extended their own in the under-15 premier division on Saturday.

The teams have been arch rivals over the years with Quay having the upperhand in the last couple, and this was the case again at a windy and bitterly cold Sandy Lane, with playing conditions extremely difficult and scoring opportunities limited.

Indeed neither ‘keeper was seriously tested for a long time, with the first-half devoid of scoring attempts.

Rock with the elements favouring them, didn’t trouble Quay goalkeeper Ben Gartlan in this period. But they were seriously unlucky when a delightful curling shot by Mark Leavy from the edge of the 18 yard box struck the underside of the visitors crossbar with the goalkeeper helpless and the ball was cleared to safety.

Sam Malone had put Quay ahead when he nipped in ahead of Rock goalkeeper Conor Maddy who raced to the edge of the 18 box as the ball was played through the middle from half way. The Quay attacker took the ball past him and steered it into the open net with less than 20 minutes gone.

Before that the best chance fell to Conor Devlin who managed to find space in a crowded home goalmouth, and unchallenged he headed just wide.

Rock mounted late pressure that yielded three corner kicks in a row, but Quay held firm.

Rock’s Ben Gartlan had the ball in the Quay net early in the second half but it was disallowed for offside.

Then as the home side pressed again Niall Brennan went on a surging run down that took him clear down the left and picked out Leavy in the box, but the latter’s shot was weak and straight at the goalkeeper.

Shortly after Scott Hearty virtually sealed victory for the visitors when his powerful, dipping long range shot flew over the goalkeeper and under the crossbar to make it two nil.

Five minutes later Leavy revived Rock’s hopes of salvaging something from the game when Evan Durnin, who looked like he strayed offside was taken down, and won a penalty.

Leavy coolly steered the kick to one side as the goalkeeper dived low the other way.

Rock had goalkeeper Maddy to thank that they stayed in the contest when a lovely piece of play by Gustas Pupelis when he veered inside a Rock player and chipped the ball over the last defender sent Scott Hearty bearing down on goal inside the box. Maddy managed to divert the latter’s shot away with his foot.

However, it was a short reprieve as Hearty made amends when he slipped in Sam Malone and he made no mistake taking the ball wide of goal but guided his low shot inside the near post.

The gloss of the win was slightly tarnished with Cathal Bradley sent off just before the final whistle. Rock’s Niall Brennan was shown a yellow card as a result of the same incident.