Bears bait Strangford in cup thriller to steal glory

5 March 2014

TOLLYMORE faced Strangford for the fifth time this season — the third time at the Links — and recorded a battling 3-2 victory to set up a quarter-final derby duel with Castlewellan Town.

Strangford were at full throttle in the opening minutes as United defended robustly with

both McGrady and Holland making important blocks.

Gradually, United weathered the storm and Peter Bardon and Diarmuid McLaughlin began to probe the home defence.

Tollymore took the lead from their first real chance after a Billy Jones shot deflected off a defender for a corner kick. Matt Smyth’s perfectly delivered cross was nodded into the net by Peter Bardon, who had arrived unannounced at the back post.

Strangford were certainly not in the mood to go down without a fight and the teams “slugged” it out in midfield before Tollymore doubled their advantage after 32 minutes.

Jim Jennings drew a foul from the home defence and Matt Smyth hammered the ball into the right hand corner of the net.

The Tollymore wing backs, Valentine and Bardon, were causing the home defence plenty of problems and Smyth and Jones just had to apply a finish to a series of crosses across the home penalty area.

Jones almost made it 3-0, but his shot hit the upright with the keeper beaten.

Strangford took full advantage and pulled a goal back when McGrady challenged for the ball with the Strangford centre forward and was adjudged to handle the ball with referee Dickson pointing to the spot for Dale Curran to score.

The game was now finely balanced and both teams battled to take control of the midfield area.

Fortunately for Tollymore they added a third goal, on the hour, when Matt Smyth’s free kick into the penalty area deceived everyone and Billy Jones was on hand to scuff the ball into the net!

Strangford immediately introduced some substitutes and the fresh legs had the desired effect as they had Tollymore on the back foot for the remainder of the game.

With 20 minutes to go Strangford set up a grandstand finish as they pulled another goal back through Eoin King.

However, Tollymore held their nerve and Dodds and Jones almost scored to make the game safe.

In the final ten minutes Strangford relied heavily on corners and free kicks, but with Tollymore bringing Hall back to defend set pieces and Valentine and Peter Curran offering a useful outlet for the defence, they held on comfortably to win.

A good battling performance from Tollymore with Holland back to his best and United just glad to see the back of Strangford.

Strangford 2

Tollymore United 3

HARRY CLARKE CUP 4TH ROUND

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