Reid rescues point
Arklow United grab late equaliser against Glencormac
ARKLOW UNITED GLENCORMAC UTD 3 3
AN 89th minute equaliser from Arklow United secured a vital point at Ferndale Park against Glencormac United.
United got the game off to the best possible start with an early goal through Paddy Reid.
A corner from Shane Roche on the fourth minute was met by the head of Reid as he made a late run into the box and headed the ball off the underside of the bar and into the net.
It took Glencormac 20 minutes to get into the game but when they did, they put the Arklow defence under severe pressure.
Winger Dean McCormac was continuously putting the United backline under pressure with his pace and tricky feet.
McCormac started off a great counter attack by the away side as he picked out left back Sam O’Callaghan who played a one two pass with James Delahunty before squaring the ball across goal to Josh O’Callaghan but his shot smashed the crossbar.
Glencormac went 2-0 down on the 21st minute as a counter attack and a long ball by United meant striker Shane Roche went one on one with keeper Ash O’Callaghan and made no mistake and he slotted to the keeper’s right hand corner.
The away side almost grabbed a goal back just before half-time as Nathan Watters’ shot was saved by United keeper Dean Flood Hayes, but he could only parry the ball out to James Delahunty.
Delahunty’s follow up shot was then saved again by Hayes to deny the travelling side an equalising goal.
An early second half goal from Josh O’Callaghan gave the away side just what they needed as his goal gave them the confidence to go on and get another goal ten minutes later through an amazing bicycle kick by Nathan Watters.
Watters had tried the bicycle kick early in the game, but he didn’t connect properly with the ball and his effort didn’t challenge the United keeper.
Glencormac were awarded a corner kick on the 54th minute which was drifted into the penalty area by Dean McCormac, striker Nathan Watters rose above everyone else in the box and pulled off an acrobatic bicycle kick that flew into the top corner. What a goal by Watters and what a comeback by Glencormac!
Glencormac’s tails were up and were searching for a winning goal and they finally got their reward for dominating possession on the 75th minute with deflected shot with Watters again finding the back of the net.
His volley looked to be going wide, but it took a dangerous deflection and ended up in the back of the net as there was nothing Hayes could do in goal as he dived in the opposite direction before the deflection.
Glencormac continued to dom- inate possession and had numerous of chances to finish the game off but the United keeper was in great form and he pulled off some amazing saves to keep his side in the game.
His best save came on the 88th minute as he pulled off a double save to keep out substitute Ben O’Callaghan’s shot’s from inside the penalty area.
Hayes got a hand to the first shot and then got quickly back up to his feet to pull off another save to parry the ball off a Glencormac player for a goal kick.
The resulting goal kick from Hayes led to United grabbing an 89th minute equaliser.
Hayes picked out David O’Neill who went on a great run before being taken down on the edge of the penalty area.
O’Neill stepped up and struck the free kick but his effort was saved by O’Callaghan, unfortunately O’Callaghan could only parry the ball out to Paddy Reid who was in the right place at the right time to nod the ball into the top corner.
United had salvaged a point with just a minute to play after being two goals ahead in the first half.
In truth United shouldn’t have been fighting for an equalising goal in the second half as they were sitting comfortable at the end of the first half but an amazing fight back from their opponents meant they had to dig deep in the final moments as Reid and O’Neill’s experience in big games proved to be enough to scrape a draw.