25th April 2010

Sporting Fingal v Drogheda United

Match Report

Newstalk A League
Sporting Fingal 2 Drogs 0

This was a match of two halves with Sporting fielding a very strong team which included 8 members of its first team squad including Glen Crowe and on paper Darius's boys were on a hiding to nothing as they lined out for the start. The biting wind did not help and the visitors were put under huge pressure territorially from the kick-off and Fingal's expansive play looked as if it would pay rewards every time they attacked. But after the initial onslaught, the Drogs got used to the pace of the game and defended well with Hoey and Murphy in the middle and full-backs Healy and Kierans giving as good as they got even they were under pressure on every SF attack.

The lead goal came on 30 minutes when a defensive mix-up allowed Crowe to lob the ball into the empty net and the home side added top their lead with a shot through a crowd of players wne it looked like the ref should have blown for a free out. 2-0 at half time and facing into strong breeze wasn't an enticing prospect for the second half, but the Drogs came out in the second half and showed the home team that they meant business. Chris Kerr came more into the game and the Drogs played the ball well out of defence and created a number of chances through a good Kerr shot which went just over. Monday, Stephen and Paulie attacked well and our best chance came on 73 when Stephen was straight through on the keeper but delayed his shot fractionally. Paul had a good chance late on , but his shot was blocked away.

In the end this match showed the dilemma of the A League, strong clubs will field their reserve (i.e first team squad players) , whilst others (like us) will use it as a means of bringing youth players through. But this was an encouraging display by the boys and they look forward to welcoming Rovers to Hunky Park next Saturday.

Team: Joe Flanagan, Conor Healy (Conor Kelly) , Derek Kierans,Ciaran Hoey, Stephen Murphy, Kevin Ross, Paul matondo, Chris Kerr, Ronan McEntagert, Stephen Campbell, Monday Amwoyi (Oscar Sabanda).

Sub not used: Alex Reilly