Elliott proud of efforts despite defeat

Aquinas II 2 Derrychara Utd 1

DERRYCHARA United’s run in this year’s fonacab Junior Cup came to an end on Saturday after a 2-1 defeat to Belfast side Aquinas II.

Derrychara midfielder Craig Johnston cancelled out Conor Leonard’s opener, but the latter found his second goal of the game with just over half an hour to play to send his side through to the next round.

Derrychara manager Damien Elliott was pleased with his team’s performance despite the loss.

“The result for me was a tough one to take, the lads put in a serious effort the whole game and for large parts of the game played some great attacking football, and in my opinion, dominated for great spells, especially in the second half,” he said.

“However, the opposition defended strongly, and the game showed why the Junior Cup can be cruel and the two goals we conceded were a prime example of that.

“On another day we would have had the same result as the last round. Regardless, I was proud of the lads to a man.”

The away side got off to a strong start as Winston Moran proved a constant threat to the Aquinas defence as he came close himself to making it 1-0 before creating an opportunity for Lee Glass who failed to convert. Aquinas responded with a shot that came off the crossbar to let the Enniskillen side off with only a scare.

Derrychara couldn’t find the lead they were chasing and instead, they conceded in the 35th minute.

A free kick played into the box came off the lap of striker Leonard and squirmed past goalkeeper Josh Brownlee.

Derrychara responded well to the goal and created a couple of half chances before the half time whistle as the teams went in at 1-0.

Their strong start to the first half was replicated in the second as Gavin Mcdonald denied Craig Johnston twice with key saves.

However, Johnston finally found the breakthrough in the 53rd minute as he was released by Brownlee and beat a couple of defenders before finding the bottom corner and making it 1-1.

It took Aquinas only six minutes to respond, after a blocked shot Leonard slid in to bundle the ball over the line with the Derrychara defence only able to watch as the ball slowly trickled in.

The away side pushed for an equaliser in the final half-hour but were restricted to a few efforts from long range as they bowed out of this year’s coveted cup competition.