Donacarney give Harps a reality check
DONACARNEY Celtic recorded the result of the weekend as Ken Pierce’s side beat Boyne Harps at home on Sunday afternoon.
Aidan Murphy scored twice in the second half to secure a valuable three points for his team.
It was the first defeat for Darius Kierans’ team and also the first time they had conceded twice in a single game, but Donacarney were full value for their win as they set up to frustrate the Drogheda team and hit them on the counter attack.
Harps dominated possession for the majority of the first half, but the game was played predominately in their half as Donacarney instigated a high press.
Harps had the first chance on 15 minutes when Marty Walshe got free, but Graham Duffy saved the shot. Then on half an hour Kyle Molloy was played through, but he shot wide from an acute angle.
Soon after the restart, though, Molloy was again slipped through and he forced another great save from Duffy. The hosts broke quickly from the attack and a through ball to Aidan Murphy was mis-controlled by Eric Browne and Murphy retained possession to score past Keith Martin to give Donacarney the lead.
The goal gave the hosts real impetus and while they had a high intensity in the first half it seemed
to renew their vigour and they didn’t allow Harps to settle into their usual free-flowing game.
Harps almost levelled when Killian Brennan let fly, but once again the home keeper pulled off a great save.
Harps couldn’t break down their opponents after going behind and the game became one-way traffic.
The Meath outfit doubled their lead soon after when Gerry Bermingham played a neat pass through the middle for Murphy to race onto and he rounded Keith Martin before slotting into an empty net. Indeed Murphy could have had a hat-trick as ten minutes from time Murphy broke through, exploiting gaps left in the Harps defence, and rounded the keeper, but he went too wide and his shot hit the side netting.
The win was made more impressive by the fact that Pierce only made two changes to his
team and that was due to fatigue more than a tactical requirement.
For Harps, though, the result will possibly help focus their mind as they have now slipped to second in the table behind Trim Celtic. Kierans will be paying a close eye on the goings-on in Group C to see who they may be drawn against in the quarter-finals.
Harps travel to Virginia on Sunday, while a point for Donacarney in their final game will ensure the Meath side will qualify for the Kilmessan Shield.
BOYNE HARPS: Keith Martin, Dale Harding (Jason O’Boyle), Eric Browne, Paddy O’Boyle, Roy Kierans, Killian Brennan, Kyle Molloy, Darren McCann (Eric Kierans), Martin Kelly, Marty Walshe, Nathan Llewellen (Kevin Walshe)
DONACARNEY CELTIC: Graham Duffy, Gerry Bermingham, Jack Tungsted, Noel Miles, Jack Kileen, Sean Sanders, Eric O’Brien, Aaron Daly, Aaron Dale, George Hishelhof (Ryan Kiltey), Aidan Murphy (Kyle Keogh).