Chord put Rock Celtic to the sword
NORTH EAST FOOTBALL LEAGUE
THE runaway second division champions sent out a loud message that they are a side to be feared in the Tully Cup as they blasted their way into the semi-finals at Sandy Lane on Friday night.
Their convincing win capped a harrowing season for the Seasiders, whose premier division status hangs by a thread after their season nosedived following a promising start.
They were handed two walkovers in earlier rounds of the cup but any notion of finishing the campaign on a high was never really a prospect in this tie.
They were fortunate to trail by a single goal at the break. A comedy of errors then resulted in Chord doubling their lead after Sean Hand on his introduction at the break went close to reducing the arrears with a sizzling shot from the edge of the box that was only inches off target.
That was the sort of nearly never night it was for Rock, as a brilliant save then foiled David Ward from quickly cutting the deficit to just a goal. The Chord goalkeeper produced a flying save from his header after Derek Delany with a lovely piece of trickery on the right edge of the box worked an opening to cross into the middle of the visitors goalmouth.
Straight away Chord cashed in on this let-off to extend their lead to three nil with a smashing strike from the edge of the box.
Delany then experienced the most wretched of luck when his firmly struck shot hit the inside of both posts and the ball was cleared to safety.
The striker also was denied a cast iron penalty when he was taken down in the penalty box, and to complete his and Celtic’s woe, Chord with another fine strike rounded off an impressive night’s work with their fourth goal a minute from time.
ROCK: John Rogers, Paddy Reilly, Shane O’Callaghan, Gavin Toner, Ciaran Clarke, Cillian Duffy (Sean Hand), Ed Maguire (Ronan Sands), Eanna McArdle, Brendan Rogers (Derek Delany,) David Ward, Barry O’Hare.