Carryduff scramble late goal to seal win

Carryduff scramble late goal to seal win

29 July 2015

IN the final minutes of this game things looked fairly ominous for Carryduff.

Despite having a two-point advantage at half-time, the visitors had put in a very poor second half performance, but managed to snatch a last-minute victory when Conor Cassidy managed to flick the ball to the Attical net from the midst of a frantic goalmouth scramble.

The tenacity of Conor McCullough — occupying the full-back berth for the first time in his senior football career for Carryduff — made a significant contribution to the result as he was responsible for disrupting numerous Attical attacks, breaking in front of the attack to win and clear ball when Attical looked dangerous.

Barry O’Neill opened the scoring for Carryduff in the third minute. Attical kicked a number of wides before pointing in the seventh minute. Conor Cassidy and Conall Early pointed to give Carryduff the advantage.

Atticall converted a free before James Guinness pointed to give Carryduff a two-point advantage. Michael McGrath and Guinness stretched that lead as the Attical attack was contained and forced to shoot a number of wides.

Carryduff wasted a number of opportunities, kicking ball with little or no direction into the Attical defence. However, Attical were similarly wasteful, missing two relatively simple opportunities before carving the Carryduff defence wide open in the 27th minute and finding the back of the net.

Carryduff midfielder Peter Lavery rifled two efforts wide, but his 29th minute point gave Carryduff the advantage at the break by 0-7 to 1-2.

Despite opening the second half brightly with a point from play from Conall Early, Carryduff simply drifted out of this game for significant periods. Midfielder Lavery picked up a yellow card for lazy and sloppy tackling in the 35th minute and Carryduff persisted in ping ball short in front of the Attical goalkeeper, taking the sting out of any attacks they did mount.

Attical set about the task of opening up the Carryduff defence. They managed to do so on a successive number of occasions and within four minutes had registered three points, two from play and one converted free.

Carryduff struggled to create opportunities and were wasteful with those they did manage to create. Conall Early, Michael McGrath and substitute Nicholas Turkington all managed to kick wide as Carryduff’s defence conceded frees too easily.

Attical converted two frees in the 44th and 49th minutes to give them a two-point advantage. A converted 53rd minute free made it a three-point cushion.

Conall Early’s converted freeand Barry O’Neill’s point from play reduced the deficit to a single point but in the 57th minute Attical increased the margin to two with a point from play.

Carryduff threw everything into their final attack and got a lucky break when midfielder Conor Cassidy managed to flick the breaking ball to the Attical net from a frenetic goal-mouth scramble. After a very barren second half performance, Carryduff scrambled a single point victory.

Carryduff: Mark Hynes, Ronan McGrady, Conor McCullough, Mark Morris, Paddy McConnell, Ronan Lawlor, Barry O’Neill, Peter Lavery, Conor Cassidy, Rory Boyle, Sean McGonigle, Michael McGrath, Shane O’Neill, James Guinness, Conall Early. Substitutes: Nicholas Turkington (for S McGonigle, 37), Richard Carey (for R Boyle, 44), Seamus McCann (for S O’Neill, 44).

Atticall 1-9

Carryduf 1-10

ACFL DIVISION 2