11/02/2006

Shore Wanderers 1 - 3 Lisnafillan Swifts

(Shore Wanderers 2 - 7 Lisnafillan Swifts aggregate)

Lisnafillan went into this game in relaxed form, secure in the knowledge that they had a 3 goal advantage from the home leg of this Sammy Moore Cup tie.

The visiting team settled quickly into some neat passing football from the kick-off even though they were without two of their influential regulars, Roy Calderwood and Greg Marrs.

Rodney Beggs and the versatile Trevor McAleese bossed the middle of the pitch and were ably supported by Simon Workman in his more familiar defensive role. Phil Alexander worked selflessly to ensure that the Shore Defence were not allowed any time to settle and set up an early chance for William Crockard whose shot was well saved at the foot of the post.

Shore were finding it difficult to clear the ball beyond Lisnafillan's defence. Ryan Kenny's aerial dominance ensured that the ball was quickly returned to the Swifts' attacking third. The defensive unit held strong against Wanderers direct play and was a good test for Lisnafillan debutant Phil Allister who gave a very accomplished performance at right back.

Swifts pressure was bound to tell and after coming close through a string of corners it fell to Rodney Beggs to spectacularly open the Swifts' account. Shore cleared weakly from a corner and it fell to Beggs on the edge of the 18yard box. He caught the ball on the volley and fired into the roof of the net to score only his second goal of the season.

Lisnafillan pushed again from the restart in a game which was really opening up. Shore broke forward but threatened without really testing Damien O'Hagan in goal. Lisnafillan always looked more dangerous on the break and it was up to Chris McQuoid to increase their lead before half-time. He broke forward from left back, playing a nice one-two with Trevor McAleese. As he received the ball in the Shore half, he beat his marker and superbly curled the ball over the stranded keeper from all of 30yards to make it 2-0.

Half-time: 0-2

George Lynn replaced Phil Alexander for the second half and immediately began to stretch the Shore defence with some pinpoint passing. On another day, Simon Murray could have had a hat-trick as his intelligent runs were met with Lynn's accurate passing. Shore recognised this threat and immediately double teamed the sharp shooter. This allowed McAleese some space to carve out a few more chances before Jay Russell entered the game to replace the understandably tired wide man.

Russell almost scored with his first involvement in the game drawing a fine save from the Shore keeper when he arrived unmarked in the box. He seemed to pump new life into the Swifts and almost provided the perfect ball for William Crockard. Jay again found space on the left and fired the ball across the face of the goal towards the back post where Crockard was sliding in. Unfortunately the ball was just too far ahead of the outstretched Crockard who could only direct it into the side netting.

It was Rodney Beggs who began Lisnafillan's scoring and it was up to him to round off the Swifts' tally for the day. It was a much more scrappy affair than his opener, but they all count. Shore failed to clear from more sustained pressure and after a mix up in the box, Beggs was at hand to bundle the ball home.

With the tie safe William Crockard made way to give Mark Wallace a rare outing up front. Lisnafillan switched off for the last twenty minutes and Shore never gave in. They continually pushed for something out of the game but were frustrated by some poor decisions with their final ball.

Before Shore were rewarded for their efforts, Simon Murray was again cruelly denied the goal his efforts merited. He picked up the ball in a deep position, cleverly beat three men and unleashed a low powerful shot which left the keeper rooted to the spot. Unbelieveably the ball cannoned off the inside of the post and across the goal line, eventually going out for a corner! This was effectively Lisnafillan's last attack as they seemed content to sit back and see out time.

The visitors seemed comfortable absorbing the Shore pressure but inevitably surrendered a couple of free kicks in dangerous positions. It was from one of these kicks that Shore claimed a consolation goal. Their big striker lined up the ball, 25yards out and slightly to the right of the goal. He skilfully despatched the ball into the top left hand corner of the net leaving O'Hagan no chance and proving that the home team are by no means lacking in quality.

Full-time: 1-3

All in all this was a fair result considering Lisnafillan's dominance for large spells of the game and Shore's never say die attitude. This leads Lisnafillan into a Quarter-Final tie against Castle Knights who, although bottom of the table, proved difficult opponents in the league earlier this season when the score was 4-3 to the Swifts.