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First Team Off To A Winning Start

Box Score

Aug. 19, 2012

Irvinestown Wanderers 1-2 Lisbellaw United

Lisbellaw got their defence of the Mercer League off to a winning start against the newly promoted Irvinestown Wanderers at the Bawnacre venue on Saturday. The champions held a 2-0 interval lead but were forced to work hard for their win as Irvinestown battled back in the second period.

Goalscoring opportunities were few and far between in the first quarter with Ricky Carroll having the best of the Lisbellaw chances when he latched onto a William McFrederick clearance but chose to shoot early and dragged his effort wide.

A period of sustained pressure midway through the half lead to the visitors opening the scoring. Matthew Keenan’s free kick from the right wing was fumbled by Christopher Allen in the home goals and Matthew McFrederick stooped to head the loose ball into the net. McFrederick had a penalty appeal turned away shortly afterwards but his side were awarded one late in the half.

A neat interchange of passes between Paul McGrath and McFrederick on the edge of the Irvinestown box lead to a ball into Ricky Carroll who was bundled over by Allen in the goals. Darren Rogers drilled the spot kick low into the corner for 2-0.

Irvinestown were seeing plenty of the ball in this half but were struggling against a strong wind to get the ball into the danger zone and William McFrederick was untroubled during the opening 45minutes in the Lisbellaw goals.

The home side were a lot more productive with possession in the second half and got back into the game early in the half. Former Lisbellaw player Chris O’Brien produced a moment of brilliance as he fired in an unstoppable shot from the left wing which flew into the top corner giving William McFrederick no chance. Boosted by this goal Irvinestown continued to press forward, Ronan Ormsby fed Gary Maguire and a long range effort from Maguire beat McFrederick but hit the underside of the crossbar and was cleared to safety.

Having been inches from seeing their lead disappear Lisbellaw responded well. Niall Cassidy broke through on goals but shot tamely at Allen while some good defending from Conor McGuigan and Barry O’Sullivan thwarted other attacks.

Lisbellaw were handed a golden opportunity to re-establish a two goal cushion when O’Sullivan brought down Matthew McFrederick in the penalty area, this time Darren Rogers well hit spot kick narrowed went wide and the score remained at 2-1.

Late on Ricky Carroll had a goal disallowed for offside while Irvinestown couldn’t muster a clear goalscoring chance to get an equaliser they craved. This was a hard fought victory for Lisbellaw against an Irvinestown team who will hold their own in this league if they can replicate such performances on a weekly basis.

Team: Irvinestown: Christopher Allen, Daniel Noble, Stevie McMahon, Conor McGuigan, Barry O’Sullivan, Christopher Lyons, Dwayne Carleton, Ronan Ormsby, Gary Maguire, Darragh McGovern, Chris O’Brien. Subs: Christopher McMulkin, Brian Bonner, Brendan Murphy.

Lisbellaw: William McFrederick, Darren Rogers, Matthew Keenan, Stuart Cochraine, Raymond Carroll, Niall Cassidy, Kyle McCleery, Ricky Mullan, Matthew McFrederick, Paul McGrath, Ricky Carroll. Subs: Alan Veitch, Niall Leonard.