Meaney’s the man
Scott’s stunners the highlights as Conary and Celtic draw
WHEN Conary United’s Davey Doran lashed home to the top corner of the Shamrock Celtic net after 70 minutes of this entertaining Division 3 clash on Sunday morning, a victory for the home side seemed very likely given that the visitors were down to 10 men and their main attacking threat was now standing between the posts.
Up to that point, the game had been nip and tuck, with some bland spells accompanied by some very decent passages of play and with Scott Meaney proving deadly from placed balls with two goals from two frees that drifted in beautifully past a flailing Eddie Roche, the first after 23 minutes, the second five minutes into the second half.
Conary’s first reply came eight minutes after Meaney’s stunning strike and showed their attacking threat when the lively Davey Doran centered a ball to the feet of Darragh Doran who walloped home past Stephen Doyle.
Alas for Conary, when Davey Doran fired his rocket of a shot to the top corner, their position of dominance was quickly diluted with the sending offs of Davey Doran (81 minutes) and Stephen Roche (88 minutes, second yellow) for tough tackling on the Noel McVeigh leaving them struggling to clinch victory when they looked certain to do so before the exits of the aforementioned duo.
Rooster Park was in fine nick given the weather but the surface might be partly to blame for some of the sloppiness and poor play in the early stages from both sides. Calls of “we haven’t turned up yet” and “we’re walking around doing nothing” could be heard in the opening quarter as players became frustrated with a lack of cohesion in the play.
A foul on Stephen Roche in the opening minutes allowed Roche the chance to test Stephen Doyle and his free-kick flew inches wide of the top corner with oohs and aahs heard from the Conary sideline.
Shamrock Celtic were looking reasonably threatening themselves. Glen McCarthy was show- ing lovely control with the ball at his feet while Scott Meaney looked like he was capable of causing serious damage if he could get the right ball in the right area.
Celtic’s Kevin Murray produced the first real effort but his wild effort flew wide, Aaron Corrigan’s shot was blazed over from deep and McCarthy’s free-kick after six minutes tailed harmlessly wide of Eddie Roche’s post after a poor connection.
Celtic’s goalkeeper Stephen Doyle showed he was capable of covering the length of the field with his kicks and he almost caught Eddie Roche out after seven minutes with a bomb of a ball which Roche tapped down to Scott Meaney but the Celtic attacker couldn’t thread the ball across the area to a colleague and Celtic registered another wide.
Conary attacked soon after and pressure by Darragh Doran on Glen McCarthy earned the burly Conary man a shot but he watched as his effort came back of the bottom of the post to the welcome hands of Doyle with 11 gone.
A period of close calls and harmless antics saw us arrive in the 23rd minute when an overzealous tackle by Niall McCauley on Thomas Duffy saw Scott Meaney stand up to place the ball in front of a nervous looking Conary United wall.
Meaney took three short steps and placed the ball beautifully beyond the outstretched arm of Eddie Roche to open the scoring. It was a delicious shot.
Seven minutes later, Conary at- tacked with menace. Davey Doran was showing himself to be an abrasive and capable soldier and it was his hard work that allowed him square the ball and then charging through the centre came Darragh Doran like a train and he walloped home to level matters with 31 on the clock.
Five minutes into the second half and Shamrock Celtic regained the lead. A foul on Aiden O’Neill by Stephen McCauley allowed Meaney another opportunity from a free and he placed the ball to the bottom corner of the Conary goal. It was lip-lickingly good stuff.
At the other end it was Davey Doran who was proving to be the thorn in the side of the Shamrock Celtic defence and he drilled one ball across the square and then, moments later, he beat Stephen Doyle but watched in disbelief as his shot came back off the butt of the post and was gathered by Doyle. Things took a turn for the worst for Shamrock Celtic when they lost Stephen Doyle to a red card for being slightly over enthusiastic in his criticism of Michael Kennedy’s decision making.
Moments before Doyle’s departure, Scott Meaney picked up a knock, and it must have been this incident that forced the hand of the Shamrock Celtic sideline in drafting Meaney back as the goalkeeper because what they were doing was essentially depriving their side of the only real goal scoring threat they possessed, aside from Glen McCarthy who was playing just too deep to be in the mix when an attack was launched.
Back went Meaney but there was little he could do when Doran latched on to a half-blocked Justin Fagan effort and walloped home.
In fairness to both sides, they went at it hammer and tongs for the remainder of the game but a sour note had crept into proceedings and verbals gave way to late tackles which gave way to careless and at times dangerous incidents and it wasn’t long before Conary were down to nine men.
This numerical disadvantage robbed the home team of a chance to seal victory in the end with Michael Kennedy’s final whistle probably greeted with more relief by the visitors. A good battle overall with Meaney’s strikes being the high points. CONARY UNITED: 1. Eddie Roche, 2. Justin Fagan, 3. Eamon Kennedy, 4. Niall McCauley, 5. Stephen McCauley, 6. Stephen Roche, 7. PJ Fluskey, 8. Darragh Doran, 9. Andy Kennedy, 10. Dale Moran,
11. Davey Doran. Subs: Tony O’Toole for E Kennedy (H/T), Brendan Doyle for D Moran (53min), Shaun Roche for A Kennedy (71min). SHAMROCK CELTIC: 1. Stephen Doyle,
2. Phillip Gill, 3. Aaron Corrigan, 4. Noel McVeigh, 5. Gary Doyle, 6. Michael Hodgkinson, 7. Kevin Murray, 8. Aiden O’Neill,
9. Thomas Duffy, 10. Glen McCarthy, 11. Scott Meaney. Subs: Greg Doyle for M Hodgkinson (65min), Colin O’Toole for K Murray (85min). REFEREE: Michael Kennedy