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Injury time heartbreak for
Inishowen
21.10.09
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Ten men concede last
gasp winner to Galway Inishowen League...1 (Treacy ’63 penalty) Galway League...2 (Walsh ’34, Crowe ’90+2) by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent INISHOWEN endured injury time heartbreak as the Galway League pinched all three points in the opening game of the Oscar Traynor Trophy. Inishowen were slow to settle and the Connacht side took a deserved 1-0 lead into the half time break. Inishowen bossed the game for much of the second with Brian Treacy drawing the home side level from the penalty spot just after the hour mark. But Inishowen were put on the back foot when centre half Philip Devlin was harshly red-carded eight minutes from full-time. Gerard Crossan magnificently saved the penalty that Devlin had conceded, but Galway’s pressure finally told in injury time when captain Seamus Crowe found time and space in the box and his composed finish gave the visitors the win when a draw would have been a fairer result. In a subdued opening for the home side, it was Galway who made the early running. That said, Inishowen created the better of the early chances with Anthony Doherty (Shivvy) causing confusion on the right of the Galway defence that allowed the Aileach man to poke the ball into the on-rushing Steve Harkin but Harkin’s shot was always rising and flew well over the bar. Shivvy, who ran tirelessly at the Galway defence for the 90 minutes, almost opened the scoring in the 17th minute when he got onto a ball over the top but keeper John Egan closed him down and the ball went out for a corner. From that corner Martin Farren’s well-directed header was cleared off the line by Ollie Keogh. |
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Peeling off to the right
and left, Shivvy was running the defence ragged and he
again came close in the 21st minute when he collected a
pass from Eddie McIntyre on the left, flicked the ball
past Mark Moran but his shot went to the right of the
posts. While Shivvy was causing problems for Galway, Ciaran Foley was doing the same to Inishowen on the right of midfield. He whipped in a dangerous cross on 24 minutes that Simon Walsh volleyed narrowly wide. Aware of the danger posed by Foley, Brian Bell elected to switch Paul McLaughlin and Eddie McIntyre and the move worked well as Foley’s threat was curtailed. Keith Ward found space in the Inishowen box on the half hour, but with Crossan beaten his curling shot hit the crossbar and went over. Inishowen responded with McIntyre drawing a save from Egan at the other end but Galway opened the scoring on 34 minutes. |
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The visitors were dangerous
from set pieces all night and Simon Walsh rose highest
to head Keith Ward’s inch perfect free kick into the
net. Brian Treacy sidefooted wide from 12 yards after John Egan had fluffed a punched clearance at the other end five minutes before the break, but the visitors held a one goal advantage at half time. Treacy and Galway’s Ward spurned chances early on but Inishowen came to dominate proceedings in the second half. The introduction of first James Henry and then his brother Matthew helped their cause, their fresh legs made things difficult for a tiring Galway side. Inishowen strung together the best move of the match on the hour mark. Eamon Doherty started it at the right back and it ended with an acrobatic effort from Paul McLaughlin being charged down by the Galway defence after Shivvy, Treacy and Eddie McIntyre had swept the ball up the right touchline and dangerously across the box to the unmarked McLaughlin. Inishowen were awarded a penalty for handball in the 63rd minute and Brian Treacy calmly slotted it left footed into the net with the keeper diving the wrong way. The equaliser galvanised Inishowen and Galway looked rattled. Brian Treacy slipped a ball into the penalty area for Matthew Henry to run onto, but the keeper was out smartly to and took it from the two of the Carrowmena man. Philip Devlin’s sending off, however, changed the flow of the game. The Clonmany man picked up a harsh yellow card for an innocuous challenge on substitute Ronan Quinlivan inside the box in the 83rd minute. Having been booked earlier in the half, referee Mick Lagan followed the yellow card with a red to howls of complaint from the Inishowen bench. Justice of sorts was served when Gerard Crossan continued his remarkable record of penalty saves when he dived low to his left to save Mark Moran’s spot kick. But having been on the back foot for much of the half the momentum then swung to Galway. The Inishowen defence, with Seamus Doherty going into centre half and Brian Treacy filling in at left back, defended manfully and it looked like they would hold on as the clock ticked down. But it wasn’t to be. Two minutes into injury time the unmarked Seamus Crowe popped up in the box and had time and space to collect a cross from Foley and stroke the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net past the despairing dive of Crossan. There was one last chance for Inishowen. From the kick off Paul McLaughlin spotted John Egan off his line and launched an audacious lob from the centre circle that saw the Galway keeper scrambling backwards to palm the ball over the bar for a corner. Inishowen continued pressing but the full time whistle followed soon after. Inishowen must win their next match away to the Mayo League by two clear goals to have any hopes of staying in the competition. If they play with the rhythm and verve they showed in the second half at Maginn Park on Saturday night, they’ll give themselves every chance of getting the result they need. For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the Inishowen Independent. |
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