Draperstown Celtic 2-1 Ards Rangers
December 3, 2006
DC march into the 3rd Round of the Belfast Telegraph Intermediate Cup with a well deserved and thoroughly entertaining 2-1 victory over Amateur League Division 1A side Ards Rangers.
Goals from Celtic’s Conor McDevitt and John Higgins coupled with a wonderful penalty save from Kevin Leonard were the foundations for Draperstown’s fine win over a determined Ards Rangers side in this Third round tie of the Intermediate cup.
This was Celtic’s first outing in four weeks and it certainly looked it in the opening five minutes when they appeared all at sea and could count themselves fortunate not to be at least two goals down after starting very slowly. In the first minute Ards’ centre forward Hall was only thwarted by a great tackle from Caulfield when he seemed certain to score and on four minutes Celtic somehow managed to clear away the danger following a corner when Ards had three shots blocked on the line, one of which saw a fingertip save from Leonard to keep the home side in the game, even at this early stage.
Having survived this scare, Celtic began slowly to get back into the game and a clean break by Eamon Murray was only stopped by a foul by Hobson who was somewhat fortunate to escape with only a yellow card as he was the last defender. However the home fan’s optimism of Celtic getting a grip on the game was short lived as Ards took a deserved lead on 15 minutes when Leonard’s save from Halls’ shot fell for Adair who scored from close range.Higgins had a shot saved by Irvine and Eamon Murray saw a goal bound header cleared off the line by Coulter on 22 minutes as Draperstown sought the equaliser.
The game then developed into a fractious spell with both teams receiving bookings as tempers became somewhat strained. Despite coming back well into the game as the half wore on, Celtic did not test Irvine in the visitors’goals as much as they would have liked though he did look ill at ease on several occasions.
The second half began with Celtic on top. Cathal Donnely saw his shot skid past the far post and substitute Chris McGarrigle saw his shot well saved by Irvine after being released by Eamon Murray on 52 minutes. Ards were determined to hold onto their lead and came close to extending it when Holden’s volley had Leonard scampering across his line with the shot going narrowly wide.
Celtic drew level when Declan Graffan’s excellent cross saw Murray challenge Irvine for the ball which fell kindly for Conor McDevitt to hammer home the equaliser from six yards on the hour mark. Five minutes later and Draperstown were celebrating their second goal and what a good goal it was. Donnelly’s cross was cushioned down by Murray for John Higgins to lash home an unstoppable shot from 25 yards. It was all action now as back came Ards straight from the re-start. They were awarded a penalty after Caulfield took down Nixon but Adair’s shot was saved by Leonard. The ball fell for Holden whose shot crashed against the bar and eventually the Celtic defence cleared the danger away.
The pace of the game was by this stage quite frantic and the play was end to end. Murray came close to scoring Draperstown’s third but his header flashed the wrong side of the post following Caulfield’s cross. Eamon Murray who was excellent throughout the entire match almost got the goal his play deserved when after good set up play from Graffan and McGarrigle, his shot was well saved at the expense of a corner by Irvine. From that, Conor McDevitt should have scored when left unmarked but his header went wide with the keeper beaten. With only a few minutes left Leonard again came to Celtic’s rescue when he produced a fine save to turn Adair’s firm header around the post. Ards were unable to produce a goal bound effort in the remaining four minute of the game and so it was Draperstown who now progress to the fourth round of the competition.
Team:
Kevin Leonard, Ryan Browne, John Higgins, Declan Graffan, Stephen McKee, Cathal Donnelly, Raymond Caulfield, Conor McDevitt, Sean McBride, Eamon Murray, Kevin Ward.
Subs: Seamus Bradley, Ryan Bradley, Chris McGarrigle
Next First Team Fixture
V 
Tobermore Utd v Draperstown Celtic
Skills Development Centre
Folks this Saturday 04th September is the last day of the Football Development Centre for.Under 14 Registration
LadsAs we are now entering the Mid Ulster Youth League we have had to re - register you.The New Season
The sun shone, the pitch was in great condition and the team put in a very good performanc.Quick League Table
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