Glencar Celtic continue to lead the way in the Glencar Inn Saturday Division One after a narrow win yesterday, while in the Old Orchard Saturday Division Two, St Catherine’s are at the summit, even though the Fishermen had no game this weekend.
Glencar Inn Saturday Division One
Arranmore United 2 Castlefin Celtic Reserves 1
Arranmore welcomed Castlefin Celtic to Rannagh Park and the home side dug deep to grind out a 2-1 victory.
Daniel O’Donnell almost found Brian Proctor early on but the visiting keeper cleared.
Castlefin then came close from a corner. Arranmore took the lead following a corner which Castlefin failed to clear and Jason O’Donnell swung a right foot at it and it found the bottom corner.
Castlefin had the upper hand in the 2nd half and went close early on with McNulty and Roulston both going close.
After 60 minutes a free kick which wasn’t cleared by the home side resulted in David Stewart poking home the equaliser.
Castlefin pushed for the winner but the home side were defending resolutely with Michael Mc Hugh and Danny Rodgers particularly impressive.
On 68 minutes McHugh stepped out of defence and played a 30 yard through ball to Paul Early and he took possession and fired home from all of 20 yards.
The home side defended extremely well for the remainder of the game to hold out for a 2-1 victory. Michael McHugh, Danny Rodgers and Brian Proctor stood out for the home side in a very good team performance. Team performance from Castlefin.
Referee: Barry Hunter
Glencar Celtic 2 Strand Rovers 2
On a cold day in Rathmullan, Glencar hosted Strand Rovers in a top of the table clash.
During the first 20 minutes both teams had a few half chances but neither team could capitalise. Glencar opened the scoring with a looping shot from the edge of the box from Eddie McLaughlin.
Strand weren’t behind for long and equalised after a free kick was pushed on to the post by home keeper Ray McFeely and Conor Greene followed up to tap in the rebound.
Strand went ahead before the break in what was turning into a real top of the table clash. The second half was a tight affair where both sides had chances, the best falling to Garvan Grieve but the Strand keeper pulled off a great save.
Glencar were rewarded for their efforts when Rory O’Gorman poked the ball home after a goalmouth scramble with 15 minutes left on the clock.
Lee Mc Monagle could have stolen the headlines late on but he shot over from close range.
A point apiece was probably a fair result.
Referee: Mick Lagan
Old Orchard Saturday Division Two
Kildrum Tigers Reserves 1 Raphoe Town Reserves 2
Raphoe Town Reserves scored their first goal when the referee awarded a penalty in the 20th minute. Michael Curran converted to make it 1-0.
In the 23rd minute Raphoe made it 2-0 when Dylan Brolly curled into the right hand corner from 20 yards. In the 50th minute Cody Brogan went narrowly wide with a free kick. Kildrum scored in the 53rd minute after a great in-swinging corner from Shane Mc Intyre deceived the keeper and went straight in. Best for Kildrum were Cody Brogan and Jamie McKinney, best for Raphoe was Dylan Brolly.
Drumkeen United Reserves 3 Fintown Harps AFC 2
Drumkeen returned to action after a three-week layoff and managed to bag all three points from a hard-fought match against Fintown AFC.
The first half was a quiet enough affair which produced very little in the way of clear cut chances for either side. After a goalless first half the game really came to life at the start of the second half when Drumkeen took an early lead.
Good build up play on the left wing ended with the ball finding its way to Arron Doherty who ran at the Fintown defence before unleashing a great effort which gave the Fintown keeper no chance.
The second half proved to be exciting with play regularly swinging from end to end. On the hour mark Fintown got themselves back on level terms when Dermot Galier scored and then shortly after that he scored again to put his side ahead.
The end to end stuff continued and Drumkeen got a chance to get back on level terms when they were awarded a penalty following a foul on Dylan McNamee.
The penalty was calmly dispatched by young Darren Bonner and it was game on with 15 minutes left for either side to get a winner.
As the clock was ticking by it looked like we were heading for a draw but then Drumkeen were awarded a free kick when Darren Bonner was fouled on the left wing.
Darren Bonner took the free kick himself and he delivered a great ball into the middle which was headed home by his cousin Mark Bonner to claim all three points. This was a good old fashioned Saturday afternoon game of football with both teams trying hard throughout.
Referee: Seamus McGrory.
