Red card proves costly as Waterford claw back to win
Ten man Inishowen crash out 04.03.08

Inishowen...1 (Terence Doherty) Waterford...2 (Faulkner, Shanahan) by Liam Porter, Inishowen Independent, at Trawbreaga Park A MOMENT of madness from young striker Garbhan Friel cost Inishowen dearly as they crashed out of the inter-league Youth competition against Waterford on Saturday. With the home side well in control of the game and a goal ahead, the striker lashed out at Waterford’s Mitchell Casey following an aerial challenge leaving referee Con McLaughlin with no option but to issue a straight red card.

Only 33 minutes of the contest had elapsed at that stage, but with a man less Inishowen were always going to find it extremely tough, especially since the strong swirling wind made conditions extremely difficult for both sides. To their credit the home side battled bravely and they will be extremely disappointed to have conceded not just an equaliser on the stroke of half-time, but also a late winner against a visiting side who had plenty of possession but failed really to create too many clear cut chances. That in some part was due to a fine display from some of the Inishowen lads with the Aileach pairing of Thomas McMonagle and James Gillespie both turning in excellent performances at the heart of the home defence. But it wasn’t just in defence that Inishowen looked strong and for the first half hour it looked as if the home side would blow Waterford away, creating a series of chances that, had they taken them, would have

surely have seen them through. Terence Doherty fired wide with a first time strike in the 8th minute when he really had more time and three minutes later the same player set up Stephen McLaughlin whose fine strike was brilliantly parried away by Kevin Burns in the Waterford goal. A minute later Burns again saved, this time with his feet from a Paddy Doherty shot before the Waterford resistance was finally broken in the 14th minute when Terence Doherty swept a left foot shot across the keeper and into the bottom corner to make it 1-0. Waterford tried to respond with a strong run from Gary Keane, but he was stropped in his tracks by a brilliant covering tackle from James Gillespie.

But it really was all Inishowen and Burns just about did enough to tip away a Terence Doherty cross in the 18th minute. The Waterford keeper again was alert in the 26th minute to grab a free-kick from distance from Johnny Bonner that had floated through a group of players and then Greg Bradley’s snap shot was just inches wide in the 31st minute. The dismissal of Friel changed everything though and Waterford pressed on in search of an equaliser before the end of the first half. Rory Kelly made a good save with his feet to deny Keane in the 43rd minute but with just seconds to the break Gavin Faulkner raced on to a ball over the home defence and fired into the bottom corner. With the wind at their backs in the second half Waterford pressed for a second, but the Inishowen defence held firm and Kelly never really had to make a save. Indeed as the half wore on the home side came more and more into the game and Johnny Eccles was causing all sorts of problems for the visitors with his strong runs down the right. However with just nine minutes left on the clock the home team’s resistance was finally broken. From a ball into

Return to > News