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Newbuildings Utd 1-5 Draperstown Celtic

January 13, 2008

A superb team performance from Draperstown saw them tear second placed Newbuildings apart in a game where the visitors enjoyed large periods of total dominance. Four goals from Eamon Murray and a fifth from Colin Murray gave Celtic a very comfortable victory in a game where Newbuildings were hoping to do the double over Draperstown having won at Cahore Park in November.

All the goals came in a pulsating second half, but Celtic created and should have taken at least two further opportunities in the opening 45 minutes and were denied the most blatant of penalties in the 43rd minute when the referee saw fit to award a free kick on the edge of the box when Seamus Bradley had been fouled some four yards inside the box. Thankfully that decision was not to have a bearing on the game as Celtic were able to turn chances into goals in the second half.

The first half was a fast, open affair with Seamus Bradley, making his first league appearance of the season, seeing plenty of the ball on the left as Draperstown pushed forward at every opportunity. The first real chance of the game however fell to Kyle McCallion on 20 minutes but the Newbuildings’s player headed badly wide while two minutes later Gareth McKeegan tipped over a good effort from Eamon Burns.

Celtic upped the pressure in the final 20 minutes of the half and should have been rewarded for their attacking play on more then one occasion. John Higgins pulled a shot wide before Brendan Heron burst through the static home defence but hurried his shot and fired over from 20 yards with only the keeper to beat. Eamon Murray should also have score when he failed to make full connection with the ball and McKeegan gathered safely. With two minutes of the half left came that penalty decision which only the referee will know as to why it wasn’t given.

The second half began in the same fashion as the first one ended, with Draperstown putting the home defence under a great deal of pressure. With Higgins and McBride putting in a great deal of work in midfield it meant that Newbuildings were never able to get any hold of good possession. Eamon Murray fired over from the edge of the box on 49 minutes while in a rare attacking Newbuilding’s foray, Jason Hay shot wide. Celtic were finally rewarded on 58 minutes when Heron found Bradley on the left and his excellent cross was headed home by Murray. Four minutes later, the home cause was not helped when their influential midfielder Wesley Ferguson was sent for a second yellow card following a bad challenge on Higgins.

Celtic doubled their lead on 70 minutes when Bradley again found Murray who again headed past McKeegan. Against the run of play, Newbuildings pulled a goal back when King’s free kick was deflected past his own keeper by Declan Graffin, but any hopes of a dramatic comeback were extinguished two minutes later when again it was the combination of Bradley and Murray which did the damage and put the game beyond the home side. Neither Bradley nor Murray were finished yet as the winger’s cross was dropped by McKeegan and Murray was on hand to sweep the ball home for his and Celtic’s fourth of the day. The final goal, in the 86th minute, also involved Bradley and Murray who this time set up Colin Murray to score Celtic’s fifth of the day and round off an excellent team performance.

While Seamus Bradley and Eamon Murray will rightly grab all the headlines, this was a victory built on a very positive team performance, where the defence was solid and the midfield trio of Higgins, McBride and Heron looked a very good combination. This type of performance augers well for Draperstown’s future.

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Written by Michael Kelly · Filed Under First Team, News