Hammer blow for Chord on opening night
CHORD Celtic’s hopes of challenging the defending champions Trim Celtic this season were dealt a blow on the opening night of the season as they lost at home to Quay Celtic.
Cormac Reid’s side finished with 10 men as Brandon Sullivan was sent off with 15 minutes remaining.
The Drogheda side almost gifted Quay an opener inside five minutes. Ciarán McDonnell passed a ball back to his keeper Enda O’Carroll, the shot-stopper took a touch and his clearance was charged down. Quay retained possession, but the keeper pulled off a fine save to make up for his error.
The Dundalk side were very much on top in the opening exchanges and when a cross from the left found a striker unmarked O’Carroll pulled off another great save with his feet.
Chord fell behind on 10 minutes. Adam O’Connor, in attempting to clear a cross, mis-hit the ball into a path of a Quay striker who buried his shot from six yards out.
It was the first of two quick-fire goals as Quay doubled their lead three minutes later. A more direct ball split the Chord defence and O’Carroll was just beaten on his near side by a well-placed shot.
Chord were struggling to create a chance on goal, but when their first real effort came from a free kick on the right-hand side of the box Adam O’Connor whipped a shot into the far top corner to halve the deficit.
Minutes later, Aidan Murphy attempted a similar shot from a free kick, but the ball squirmed through the wall into the keeper’s arms.
Poor defending allowed Quay restore their two-goal lead on 43 minutes, but Chord hit back 60 seconds later. From midfield Aidan Murphy looped a pass into the path of Shaun Bannon and fom inside the box he rifled a volley past the Quay keeper to make it a one-goal game at the break with his first of the season.
Quay started the second half with the first real chance when they hit the bottom of the post from a free kick just outside the box.
However, Chord broke quickly and a sweeping team move ended with a shot narrowly over the bar.
Alan Dyas headed just over as the hosts enjoyed a small purple patch, but just as Chord were getting on top Quay managed to score their fourth on 65 minutes.
Things went from bad to worse for the Drogheda team with the dismissal of Sullivan for a second yellow card on 76 minutes.
Nathan Donnelly had a halfchance from outside the box, but the game really petered out in the latter stages, with Chord cutting a frustrated side at the end.
The lack of chances created by Chord will be a worry to the management team as they were scoring for fun in pre-season.
Chord will look to put things right when they travel to Rock Celtic on Sunday.
CHORD CELTIC: Enda O’Carroll, Jake Devine, Adam O’Connor (Dylan Delaney), Ciaran McDonnell, Morgan Browne (Dean Haggins), Nathan Llewellyn (Jamie King), Brandon Sullivan, Shaun Bannon, Alan Dyas (Helder Mota), Aidan Murphy, Aaron Dale (Nathan Donnelly).
QUAY CELTIC: Eddie Maguire, Kian McEvoy, Graham Stephens, Jamie Ward, Blake Stephens, Danann Killeen, Oisín Meegan, Ronan Cunningham, Luke Gorham, Thomas Daly, Tom Dearey. Subs: Scott Hearty, Cathal Bradley, Aaron Mackin, Cormac McCartney.