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Reserves avoid relegation

{mosimage} A run of five wins and four draws from ten games is enough to see Draperstown Reserves beat the drop from the North West Division 1. Credit to all the lads involved, it was a hard slog with games coming thick and fast for them.

More to follow.

Dungiven 1-1 Draperstown Celtic

{mosimage} This encounter had all the hall-marks of a final league match. Both fielded much below strength teams but still managed to produce an entertaining game. Dungiven had the best in the opening half when they had early chances to open the scoring. Eoghan Harkin lobbed Leonard but saw his effort glide past the post while the same player shot over from the edge of the box.

Kevin Ward and Cathal Donnelly both failed to test McGroarty in the Dungiven nets while the home side should have taken the lead on 40 minutes when the industrious Conor O’Kane fed Donal McGilligan who volleyed over from no more than 6 yards.

The second half saw Draperstown have the lion’s share of the game and they managed to carve out a number of good opportunities which they failed to take. Shiels and Ward were enjoying good possession in mid-field for the visitors who had a let off when Martin McCloskey had a header disallowed for Dungiven following a corner.

Geoffrey Brolly came to Dungiven’s rescue on 70 minutes, clearing Donnelly’s shot off the line with the keeper beaten, but Draperstown deservedly took the lead when Kevin Ward’s quick turn created enough space for him to guide the ball past McGroarty from the edge of the box. Cathal Donnelly had another good chance for Drapertown but saw his shot drift narrowly wide.

Just as it looked as if Draperstown would hold on to secure all three points, Dungiven came up with the equaliser when a cross field pass from Jude McLoughlin found Seamus Harkin whose powerful header gave Leonard no chance. Right at the death, Draperstown’s last attack forced a good save from McGrarty when he managed to push Donnelly’s shot away to safety.

That was to be the last action of the game and indeed the season for both teams who will both be keen to improve on the current season. For ex-league champions, Dungiven, it has been a disappointing campaign while for Draperstown yet another draw was enough to secure third place in the league, their best finish for some time. Only three defeats in the league for Draperstown was a creditable performance but too often, a failure to turn one point into three, which on many occasions their play deserved, robbed them of a runners-up spot.

Sky Blues 1-3 Draperstown Celtic

Draperstown kept up their recent unbeaten league run with an emphatic victory over local rivals Magherafelt. The game almost did not take place due to the referee insisting that the very small pitch was not properly lined out but that problem was eventually overcome and the game eventually kicked off.
Magheraflet may have certainly had the better of recent encounters between the two side but on this occasion Draperstown were worthy victors and dominated for large parts of the game and the victory leaves in them one victory away from securing a top three finish in the Intermediate league.

It was Draperstown who got off to a flying start with Murray and McBride causing the home defence all sorts of problems and it was no surprise when another attack on the Sky Blues’ goal led to McBride being taken down by Monaghan at the expense of a penalty in the 11^th minute. Marty McGuigan scored from the resultant spot kick.

The Blues certainly upped their game for a short period but were finding little joy against a solid Celtic centre half pairing of McKillion and McSorley, while fullbacks McGuigan and Graffin impressed in positions somewhat alien to them.

By 21minutes, Celtic were two up. The industrious Higgins played a forward ball to McBride who was able to lob Magherafelt keeper O’Neill from 10 yards with an astute finish. This was no more than the visitors deserved and with a very youthful midfield consistently dominating possession, a half time score of 2-0 was an accurate reflection of Celtic’s dominance.

Magherafelt did attempt to gain back some of the possession in the second half and while they might well have managed to do this there were somewhat inept at turning this into goal scoring opportunities and keeper Ferniuk, in this his second game for Draperstown was a commanding figure throughout whenever called into action.

Celtic secured the points on 67 minutes with the best goal of the game. Kevin Ward showed his great touch when he guided Cathal Donnell’s pass to Eamon Murray who turned and brought the ball down in one movement before volleying into the net from the edge of the box. A great goal which encapsulated a great team performance from a team devoid of the injured McKee, Caulfield, Young and Leonard.

Magherafelt did manage to scramble what was no more than a consolation goal when Liam Martin forced the ball over the line, but there was no way back for a well beaten home side.

This was Magherafelt’s first defeat in 11 games while for Draperstown, an excellent league campaign will finish on Saturday away to Dungiven. Victory there could well claim second place in the table.

Next First Team Fixture

McGrogan Memorial Cup | Monday 27 July 2010
V
Draperstown Celtic v Broadway Celtic