Draperstown Celtic 1-0 Churchill Utd
March 22, 2008
A Declan Graffin wonder goal was all that separated these two teams in the latest top of the league clash of this seasons’ intriguing Intermediate league campaign.
In a game which was hard and threatened to get out of hand on more than one occasion, it was Graffin’s strike from fully 30 yards which lit up a dark, cold afternoon and warmed the hearts of the Draperstown support.
This was Churchill’s last game of the league campaign and they came with a changed, stonger side determined to finish the day on top spot. Indeed they settled into the game more quickly than Draperstown with Mc Laughlin, Lynch and Stewart Smallwoods all performing well in midfield. Despite their possession Churchill found it hard to penetrate the well organised Celtic defence where Seamus Quinn had another outstanding game. Both sides had half chances to open the scoring. Murray for Celtic and Smallwoods for Churchill both came close while Lynch had the best chance for the visitors on 24 minutes when he cleverly turned McKillion but shot across McGuckin’s goal when he should have done better.
The last ten minutes of the half saw Celtic gain the momentum and almost took the lead in the 35th minute when leading goalscorer, Eamon Murray hit a superb volley only for Emmet Devenny to produce an equally superb save at the expense of a corner. This produced further panic in the Churchill defence and Graffin’s shot came off the inside of the post and was cleared to safety. Churchill came back well and showed they were still to be reckoned with when Smallwood’s free produced a good save from McGuckin in the Celtic goal.
The second half again saw Churchill begin brightly with McGill heading over from a corner while Graffin gave a glimpse of what he was to later produce when he shot narrowly wide from 25 yards. The game threatened to boil over during a fractious period which saw the referee book a number of players, including 6 from the visitors, mainly for dissent. The winning goal came when Raymond Caulfield’s intelligent pass found Graffin who strode forward and fired into the top corner with a vicious swerving shot which left Devenney well beaten.
The vocal home support was almost silenced 5 minutes later when Ryan Devine’s header crashed off the bar following McGlinchey’s free while at the other end Seamus Bradley’s diving header from Eamon Burns’ corner was just over. There was another panic situation in the Draperstown defence when McGlinchey’s free was deflected by Sean Young just past the post which a relieved Shane McGuckin could only watch go past the post.
This was to be the visitor’s last chance and with it went their recently evaporating hopes of league honours. For Draperstown, it was another valuable three points gained, in yet another test of their own title aspirations.
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
| NI Intermediate League - Intermediate |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||