Devlin delivers as Forest thrive

Devlin delivers as Forest thrive

29 January 2020

AFTER last week’s Harry Clarke Cup mauling at the hands of the Olympic second string, Forest found the Ballynahinch thirds team much more to their liking when they enjoyed a 4-0 victory at Bear Park.

In a surprisingly entertaining game, both teams had half chances in the first few minutes with Olympic’s Damian Travers and Dylan McCartan unable to get shots on target.

Forest should have taken the lead in the ninth minute when a Paul Kane corner kick was only cleared as far as Philly Flood, and his cross just evaded Ray Kendall who was sliding in at the back post.

This was to be Flood’s last meaningful contribution to the game as he went over on his ankle and had to be replaced by McKibbin, with Jennings ping into left back.

Tollymore started with almost the same team that was beaten last week with the exception of Paul Devlin, who was making his debut, and Mooney, Flood, and Paul Kane who were all unavailable last week.

However, it was Devlin that made the difference in the first 45 minutes.

The midfielder almost opened the scoring after 28 minutes when his sizzling free kick from the edge of the penalty area warmed the hands of ‘keeper Dean Blackwood with Paul Kane heading the loose ball wide.

Moments later a huge clearance from Tollymore ‘keeper Imrie bounced over the Olympic defence, and Rory Walsh jumped with Blackwood only to see his header go wide of the target.

Just as it seemed neither team was going to score, Devlin hit a wonder goal from 30 yards, with the power and swerve of the shot leaving Blackwood flat-footed.

With the wind at their backs Tollymore stepped things up and in the 39th minute an astute pass from Kane picked out Rory Walsh who hit the Olympic crossbar.

Devlin was replaced at half-time by Marty McCourt for his first game since early September, and while the big man looked rusty, he soon picked up the pace of the game.

Both sides had half chances before Forest doubled their advantage in the 54th minute when a through ball from Kane saw Walsh nipping in behind the Olympic defence. 

The unlucky Stephen McConnell barged Walsh in the back with the striker tumbling into the advancing ‘keeper and referee Mullan had no hesitation in awarding a sport kick.

Paul Kane stepped up to take the penalty and ‘The General’ made no mistake to score his second goal in two games.

Forest now started to take control and a terrific run from James Jennings saw Maxwell and McConnell combining well to scramble the ball clear.

In the 61st minute Walsh made the score 3-0 when he ran onto a pass from Marty McCourt to shoot past Blackwood.

Forest replaced Kane with Matt McCormick and the young striker almost scored immediately, but was denied by an excellent save from Blackwood whose out-stretched leg prevented a certain goal.

In the 85th minute McCormick did find the net after some excellent approach play from Burkowski.

Moments later a superb run from Olympic’s Thomas Rogers almost ended with a deserved goal, but his shot flashed over the Forest crossbar.

A good performance from Tollymore that resulted in a deserved win, but can they repeat the performance this weekend as consistency is what’s important?

Best for Tollymore were James Jennings and a remarkable first half performance from Paul Devlin, but in truth it was a good team performance.

Match sponsor: Diamond Pat’s, Newcastle.

Tollymore Forest 4

Ballynahinch Olympic III 0

NEWCASTLE LEAGUE DIVISION 2