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Clonmany Shamrocks roll on 06.02.09
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Clonmany Shamrocks...3 Moville Celtic...0 by Simon McGeady, Inishowen Independent Going into this Premier Division clash at Shamrock Park, all the questions hung over the visitors. Clonmany Shamrocks, the top team in Inishowen and unbeaten at home in the league since the Jurassic period we knew about. But what of Moville Celtic? Were they genuine title contenders or a talented but brittle collective? There are too many games left to make a definitive pronouncement on the Foylesiders place in the Inishowen League pecking order, but it now seems unlikely that John Canning’s side have what it takes to unseat the champions this season. With Redcastle in FAI Junior Cup action in Limerick, Martin Cavanagh knew his side could stretch their lead over their chief title rivals to nine points with a win, and from the moment Raymond McDaid swept home from close range after eleven minutes the outcome of the game was in little doubt. |
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Moville were restricted to
a couple of long range efforts in the early stages, but
neither Gerry Gill nor Nigel McMonagle unduly bothered
Peter Devlin with their strikes. Clonmany caused the visitors a large amount of trouble down the flanks and when Martin Doherty found Paul McLaughlin wide on the left with a deep cross, the Shamrocks’ midfielder beat the unsighted McGeady with a slightly deflected shot which flew over the head of the Celtic net-minder and into the top right corner. With Stephen McLaughlin and Michael Byrne combining to good effect up the right wing PJ Barr and Kevin Coyle had a steady stream of crosses to deal with but happily for Moville, their centre backs dealt superbly with the high ball all afternoon. Moville are the league’s second top scorers and they demonstrated their explosive attacking ability in the 27th minute when, after catching Clonmany in possession Celtic launched a lightening-quick break. Joe Doherty angled a reverse pass that married up with McMonagle’s dart to the left. The little striker ran at the Shamrock’s defence then laid a neat pass across the 18 yard line for the onrushing Gerry Gill who, with only Devlin to beat, dragged his shot wide. |
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At the other end Clonmany
almost had a third on the half hour when Maurice McGeady
pushed out a drive from Brendan Devlin only for the ball
to fall to Stephen McLaughlin but his follow up was part
blocked and PJ Barr cleared the danger and got a kick in
the shins for his trouble. Clonmany were able to keep the Moville attackers from getting behind their back line. Colin Doherty’s dipping volley from a Devlin punch flew wide and then Graeme Doherty was unlucky to see his header from a deep Gerry Gill cross rebound to safety off the back of a Shamrock’s defender. The same player then hit an audacious strike from 35 yards that Devlin would have struggled with had it been just a few feet lower. At the start of the second half big Phil Doherty slipped to let in Nigel McMonagle in, but once more the Celtic striker lacked composure whilst shooting. Brendan Devlin should have sewn up the match for Clonmany on 50 minutes. Another swashbuckling raid from Stephen McLaughlin drew the attentions of three Moville defenders and their goalkeeper. The winger laid the ball back to the veteran striker 20 yards out from goal but, with the goal at his mercy, he somehow managed to roll the ball wide. The match effectively ended as a contest in the 57th minute with the sending off of Moville’s playmaker Graeme Doherty. Having already seen yellow at the start of the second half, Doherty was shown another for his part the flare up that followed a late challenge by Stephen McLaughlin on Moville right-back Colin Doherty. The Isle of Doagh youngster escaped with a booking. From that moment on Clonmany sat back, content to soak up the pressure from a Moville side that buzzed around but were unable to find the killer pass. Indeed, Clonmany pressure on the ball routinely forced Moville to play the ball back or sideways. There simply was no way through. None, at any rate, that could be found by a man in a hooped shirt. Shamrock’s Captain Liam Hirrell presented Moville with a great chance to score with a quarter of an hour to go with a careless back-pass. Joe Doherty ran onto the ball but the former Shamrock’s man couldn’t hit beat his erstwhile goalkeeper. Shamrock’s substitute Niall McDaid put the result beyond all doubt in the 80th minute when he collected a free from the quick-thinking Martin Doherty and shot low under McGeady’s body. Steve Harkin squandered a great chance to make it four late on when he let the ball run away from him with only the Moville keeper to beat. That would have been cruel on John Canning’s men, for whom PJ Barr, Kevin Coyle and the energetic Richard McElhinney did well. Nevertheless Clonmany won this game with an economy of effort. With their potent attack and miserly defence, the champions will take some stopping between now and May. For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the Inishowen Independent. |
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