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Gray breaks Buncrana Hearts
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Gleneely Colts...1 (Gray ’89) Buncrana Hearts Reserves...0 by Michael Stamp, Inishowen Independent, in Gleneely WITH the First Division title hanging in the balance, this game was of paramount importance to both sides. Colts and Hearts each have a chance of promotion and with Glengad snapping at the heels of both teams a defeat in this match could spell the end of one side’s title hopes. With only one promotion spot on offer this game was an unsurprisingly tense affair with neither side wanting to make the first mistake. Gleneely came close early on through Jason McElhinney who hit over after good build up play from Ronan Kearney and James Gray. Buncrana replied through Johnny Eccles who embarked on a good run but saw his shot go wide. Buncrana had the better of the opening period and saw a free kick by Karl Kelly cleared by Neal G Duffy. Another free from Brian Bradley floated just wide for Hearts. |
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Buncrana dominated the half
with Pauric O’Flaherty having a shot turned away for a
corner and Michael Caldwell shooting just wide. Kris
Duffy was forced into a good save moments later after a
Greg Bradley shot. Simon McGrory also shot over and
Patrick Fletcher had a shot saved by Duffy. In all
fairness to the home side they were playing against a
very strong wind but their performance in the opening 45
was below par; aside from the tireless running of James
Gray, Colts offered little attacking threat. Unfortunately for Hearts they lost midfielder Tommy Caldwell whose day ended just before half time through an ankle injury. Joe Kearney will have undoubtedly have been the happier manager to hear the half time whistle and to his credit his side were much improved in the second half. The home side had the ball in the net after 50 minutes through James Gray but it was correctly disallowed for offside. Gleneely were growing in confidence with Barry Diver seeing a decent shot saved by Adrian Brown. Neal G Duffy also had a long range shot held by Brown. |
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Buncrana were far from
finished though and it took an excellent last gasp
tackle from Eddie McNamee to prevent Patrick Fletcher
from being one on one with Duffy. Fletcher hit an effort
just over moments later and Michael Caldwell headed over
from a corner. Hearts had a lot of possession and the
majority of the set pieces but couldn’t take advantage.
Fletcher had another shot that was saved by Duffy who
was having a very solid game. Gleneely almost got lucky
with a long-range shot from Keith McLaughlin who almost
parried the ball to Ronan Kearney but the Hearts
custodian recovered and managed to put the ball out of
play. With 89 minutes elapsed the game seemed destined to end in a draw, a result that would have been ideal for Glengad who beat Rashenny 2-0. However there was a sting in the tail for Buncrana. A well-delivered corner from Declan Kearney was met by the unmarked James Gray who gave Brown no chance with his header. Ironic given Hearts had the lion’s share of corners but could do nothing with them. Moments later the final whistle blew and Buncrana may look back at this game as the one that cost them promotion. Gleneely Colts: Kris Duffy, Stephen McLaughlin, Eddie McNamee, Neal G Duffy, Barry Diver, Barry Kearney, Keith McLaughlin (Gavin McLaughlin), Declan Kearney, James Gray, Ronan Kearney, Jason McElhinney. Subs: Martin Mooney, Hugh Kelly. Buncrana Hearts Reserves: Adrian Brown, Karl Kelly, Brian Bradley, Diarmaid Fullerton, Michael Caldwell, Simon McGrory, Tommy Caldwell (Bernard Doherty), Greg Bradley, Patrick Fletcher, Pauric O’Flaherty (Marty McMonagle), Johnny Eccles. Subs: Darren McGlynn, James O’Donnell, Seanan Murphy. For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the Inishowen Independent. |
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