KDFL SENIOR DIVISION TEAM FOCUS

Coill Dubh AFC 1 3 Moone Celtic FC

Moone Celtic made the trip to Coill Dubh on Friday night in search of their first points of the season and much to the relief of the traveling players and support left with their first win of the campaign. Played in ideal conditions and on a perfect surface this game was a must win for both teams.

Coill Dubh were straight out of the blocks and in the first minute with the first attack, Cian Flood had to produce a near post save with the resulting follow up shot hitting the cross bar and out to safety. Moone took note of this and tightened up in defence and midfield as they grew into the game. Cormac Burke and Garry Carroll took command in defence winning their duals with the Coill Dubh attack and giving Moone a solid platform. Upfront for Moone, Owen Fox and Evan Farrell's pace caused the Coill Dubh defence problems both when they attacked and pressed to close them down. As Moone began to dominate the chances came and went with Farrell, Dylan Dunning and Garry Carroll failing to convert chances with Ryan Bagnall in the Coill Dubh goal producing one particularly outstanding save to keep his goal intact. Coill Dubh however proved that they were dangerous on the counter when a near certain lead was cleared off the line by the head of Garry Carroll. Moone had being playing some nice football in this half and on the fortieth minute a Liam Horn shot from the edge of the box was parried by the Ryan Bagnall and Evan Farrell made no mistake from the rebound. One up and no more than Moone deserved. As the half came to a close. Owen Fox gathered a ball on the edge of the box and finished to the bottom corner, very little Bagnall could do to keep it out.

While Moone may have dominated the first half, it was role reversal in the second with Coill Dubh taking over and keeping Moone pined in their own half. The introduction of Oisin Lawler and with the dominance of the Dubh midfield the chances started to come for Coill Dubh. Joe Bowers caused problems in midfield and you felt a goal was coming for Coill Dubh but they could not make their dominance count. Moone gradually started to break even around the pitch and should've extended their lead on 60 minutes through Owen Fox but Bagnall stood firm to claim the chip shot. Moone did not have to wait long for number three when Dylan Dunning gathered a ball out of defence from Aaron Dunne on the left, he passed to Callum Kelly who turned inside and took the entire Coill Dubh defence out with a cross field pass to Owen Fox who found Liam Horan running through to slot him Moone's third. From the tip off, Coill Dubh attacked and won a free on the edge of the Moone box near the end line. The resultant free was passed back into midfield, the next pass to Cian McMahon took four Moone players out of play and from twenty five yards, beat Cian Flood and Coill Dubh had a lifeline. The water break came at the worst possible time for Coill Dubh as on the resumption, Moone closed out the and finished deserved winners.

For Coill Dubh, Ryan Bagnall was solid in goals, the defence was well marshalled by Adam McLoughlin and Sean McMahon with Joe Bowers pulling the strings in midfield and Conor Comiskey causing problems upfront. The substitutions for Coill Dubh made a huge difference in the second half. On the Moone side, the back four were solid and well led by Cormac Burke, midfield was strengthened with the return of Lar Wall and Dylan Dunning and upfront Owen Fox and Evan Farrell were busy throughout. It was hard to choose between Cormac Burke and Owen Fox for the MotM award so they can share it for this performance.

Newbridge Hotspurs 2 4 Newbridge United FC

Hotspurs succumbed to their first defeat of the season in this local derby at Snigs Brogan Park. An entertaining game it has to be said. However, it was a game where Hotspurs game plan was severely impacted by two early injuries to two key players, one of which could be season ending. It was a somewhat nervy start for both teams. Hotspurs first real chance of the game came on the 18th minute. It came via a Sean Higgins free which found Eoin McGrath at the back post who headed past the keeper. However the referee ruled the effort out for offside. At the other end, United had two quick changes in succession in which Reece Winders made two good saves. On the 25th minute, Mark Wolfe had a shot well saved by the United keeper. On the 26th minute at the other end, Ryan Kearney had a shot well saved by Reece Winders. Shortly after, United were awarded a penalty. However, Reece Winders was on hand to make a good save. Hotspurs took the lead on the 43rd minute via a long ball which was deflected into the United net, 1-0 to Hotspurs. The game went in at half time 1-1.

The second half started well for Newbridge United. It was on the 52nd minute when they equalised via a good finish from Ryan Kearney. Just three minutes later, Kearney made it 2-1 to United via a cool finish. On the 58th minute, Kearney got his hat-trick when he past Winders in goal. Hotspurs calamity of 12 minutes concluded on the 64th minute when United made it 4-1. Hotspurs at this point were shell shocked. That said, Hotspurs did gather themselves and started to play some football. On the 69th minute, they got one back via a Niall Flynn goal from a Mark Wolfe pass, it followed a fine passing move from Hotspurs. Hotspurs continued to press for a third and had a few chances. On the 80th minute, Hotspurs thought they got a third when Chris Higgins finish was ruled out for offside.  Hotspurs continued to push for a third but to no avail. A disappointing night ended with a 4-2 defeat for Hotspurs. Best for Hotspurs were Robbie Higgins, Niall Flynn and Eamon Doyle

Arlington FC 1 0 Old Fort Celtic FC

Arlington AFC returned to winning ways with a narrow but hard-earned 1–0 win over Old Fort Celtic on a sun-soaked morning at Castle Park. Old Fort started well and controlled most of the tempo and just Like last week against Rathangan Old fort Failed to break the deadlock and fell short in the Final third.  It was then Arlington who took the lead through a controversial spot kick to go 1-0 up on the twenty ninth minute when Olumide Solanke drove into the box and was brought down, earning a penalty. Mark Ugochukwu stepped up and confidently dispatched the spot kick to give Arlington the lead.

The Old fort Midfield were definitely the game changers today with Lee Carroll, David Costigan and the returning Robbie Farrell running the midfield but to be fair Arlington backline socked up all the pressure.  Next chance fell to old fort through Patryk Staniec when a pin point pass from Scott Coyle found him alone at the back post but the Arlington Keeper Luke McEvoy pulled off a Fantastic save to keep the home side ahead

It was a pretty back and forth exchange for most of the game with neither team getting any clear cut chances until late in the second half Arlington were awarded a second penalty of the game, Old Fort short a keeper on the Day so club centre half Eoin Carroll stepped up and took 1 for the team to play in goal.  He made a Fantastic save for the second penalty and wasn't really under much pressure for most of the game but in Football sometimes playing good gets you nothing and today was that day. Arlington walk away with three points and Old Fort once again empty handed after another good performance. Best for Old Fort were Lee Carroll, Robbie Farrell, Patryk Staniec But MOTM goes to Byron McGuirk playing out of position at Right Back put in a hell of a shift as always. Best for the winners were Luke McEvoy, Olumide Solanke, James Haberlin, Ian Higgins and Pheilim O’Kane.