Whitechurch keep up the pressure on league leaders
DIVISION 3 in the UCFL is starting to clog up at the top of the section, after Whitechurch FC threw their name into the hat for promotion after a narrow 2-1 win over Old Bawn FC in Sean Walsh Park last Saturday, reports John Mooney.
This game could have been over at half time had the Church taken their chances, and in the end they had to battle for the tree points.
They started well enough and hit the opening goal inside 10 minutes as Sean Quigley whipped over a corner from the right, the ball was only half cleared, and Jack Murphy put the finishing touch to give the visitors the lead.
On the balance of play they deserved to be in front and it could have been two five minutes later as Dean Ryan broke free and lobbed the ball over keeper Conor Keating, but could only look on as it went narrowly wide.
Disaster then struck as the Church lost Craig Nolan with a knee injury, but they didn’t let that effect them, and Ben Lenehan was next to try his luck only for Keating to pull off a flying save.
The best the Bawn could muster in the opening half was a flying shot from Lewis Talbot that was pushed away for a corner by David Marlow.
However, this game really turned a corner in a six minute spell in the second half as Nathan Osbourne set up Aaron Breslin for a chance that Marlow denied and, almost immediately, play switched down the far end where Quigley slipped the ball to Ryan to make it 2-0.
It was a shock to the system and the Bawn responded within two minutes as Talbot reduced the deficit, when he ran onto a Breslin pass and finished superbly.
If anything that opened up the game and the home side pushed forward in search of an equaliser but, unfortunately, it never arrived.
The nearest they came to getting a point from this encounter was Marlow saving on the goal line with minutes remaining, they appealed for a goal but referee Craig McCarthy saw differently and the visitors went home the happier.
OLD BAWN FC: C. Keating, C. Lyons, S. Doran, A. Breslin, G. Perry, M. Lovett, N. Osbourne, L. Talbot, A. Layton, K. Deegan, C. Bates. D. Slevin, C. Best, D. Potter, R. Callery, R. Hitchings, B. Prout.
