Match of the Week: Lourdes Celtic go goal crazy
LOURDES CELTIC brought their “A” game to Stannaway Park on Saturday morning, when they saw off a depleted Astars FC by winning 7-1 in this UCFL Division 3C clash, reports John Mooney.
In fairness to Astars both their keepers were missing and Myles Geraghty put up his hand to go between the sticks, something he probably won’t do in a hurry again after conceding seven.
In all honesty though the visitors were in the game for around 30 minutes before running out of steam, and Lourdes were only too happy to press home their advantage.
The win puts them in contention for promotion from this Division, but there is still a long way to go so maybe the Sidney Bedlow Cup might be a better option, as they are in the quarter final.
On Saturday they opened their account in the seventh minute when Geraghty took down Evan Hawkins and a penalty was awarded, which Hugh Kennedy stroked home.
But the visitors dug deep and, after two near misses, finally got on level terms on 18 minutes when Christian Goonery headed home from a corner kick.
Unfortunately that’s as good as it got for Astars as Lourdes upped the ante and banged another three before the break to kill this game altogether.
Les Prendergast headed in a corner from the left hand side in the 25th minute and before the visitors could recover Prendergast slotted home number three, while a cracking diving header from Hawkins saw them go in leading 4- 1 at the break.
It wasn’t going to be any better for Astars in the second half but, in fairness, they never gave up the chase, even though Lourdes kept adding to their account.
Prendergast completed his hat-trick seven minutes after the restart with a sweet turn and shot and was almost immediately substituted, his claim being he hasn’t got the legs for 90 minutes any more.
His replacement Toheeb Adigun was just as effective in front of goal when he added the final two goals of this game, with one coming from the penalty spot.
LOURDES CELTIC: M. Mitrica, S. Downey, D. Carruth, D. Downes, M. O’Neill, L. O’Brien, E. Hawkins, H. Kennedy, L. Prendergast, P. Carroll, A. Noonan, M. Deegan, C. McDonnell, J. Johnson, R. Covelo-Otero, S. Newman, C. Singleton, T. Aoigun.
ASTARS FC: M. Geraghty, M. Ferreira, C. Goonery, S. Kearney, K. Glass, A. Ferreira, C. Murphy, N. McEvoy, J. Radford, J. Curtis, C. Greene, N. Harding, G. Whelan, A. Delmar.
REFEREE. E. Kane.