Swifts give Mills the blues

Swifts give Mills the blues

2 November 2016

DRUMANESS Mills suffered a heartbreaking exit from the quarter-finals of the Toals Steel and Sons Cup.

A freak wonder goal in the 84th minute sent Linfield Swifts through to a last four meeting with Crumlin Star.

The Mills had matched their more illustrious opponents stride for stride and blow for blow, but when the chips were down it was Linfield who prevailed with a mesmerising goal from undoubted man of the match Stephen Fallon.

The Linfield playmaker was pushed wide out on the left flank by Stefan Mason and Michael Rainey, but he somehow managed to whack a Hail Mary cross into the box. Somebody answered his prayers as his attempted cross flew across well positioned goalkeeper Stephen Keenan and careered into the top right hand corner of the net.

This was rough justice on Drumaness who played their part in an entertaining cup tie, but they have only themselves to blame after taking the lead on two occasions.

The Mills started well and put the Linfield defence under pressure early on and they were rewarded in the eighth minute when Rainey got in front of Cameron Stewart and headed a Sean McQuoid corner to the net.

Linfield came back strongly and their possession game and pace on the flanks were cause for concern. Fallon was instrumental in all things positive from Linfield and with 10 minutes gone shot narrowly wide after another patient build-up.

Play became bogged down for a while in midfield until Owen Wright chanced his arm from just outside the box in the 26th minute, but his sizzling strike was unluckily deflected for a corner.

An equaliser wasn’t far away and with 27 minutes gone Ryan Strain converted a Jake Moore cross after a sweeping, inventive move.  

The reminder of the half belonged to Linfield as they probed and probed down their right flank, but Brendan Ward and Gary Murdock were capable of handing anything that came their way.

Linfield opened the second half on the attack and Lewis Houston had a shot deflected for a corner before the Mills retaliated on the break and Stefan Mason had a shot on target after Gavin McEvoy played him in.

However, with 61 minutes gone Drumaness regained the lead. James McGivern threaded a super pass into Gavin McEvoy and the referee immediately pointed to the spot after he was felled by Adam McCallum.

Sean McQuoid wasted no time in dispatching the spot kick past a helpless Alex Moore to give the Mills a 2-1 lead. 

Rather than upset the Swifts, this goal only spurred them on to greater things and it was 2-2 11 minutes later when Fallon put the ball on a plate for Johnny Frazer and he made no mistake at the back post.

The game was there for the taking by either side, but it was Linfield who had that extra bit of quality and Fallon’s late strike was good enough to set the Wee Blues up with a showdown with Crumlin Star.

Drumaness must pick themselves off the floor as they face Dromara Village in the Irish Cup on Saturday.

Drumaness Mills: S Keenan, M Rainey, C Black, G Murdock, B Ward, O Wright, J McGivern, M McGarritty, G McEvoy, S McQuoid, S Mason. Subs: T  McConville, J Patterson, J McKnight, J Barlow, C Curran-Cochrane.

Linfield Swifts: A Moore, J Campbell, R Neale, A McCallum, C Stewart, L Houston, J Frazer, S Fallon, R Strain, J Moore, L Houston. Subs: E Taggart, J Mitchell, C Murray.