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Draperstown Celtic 2-2 NFC Kesh

NI Intermediate League

Draperstown will feel that they let two points slip on Saturday after their draw with Kesh. Twice they were pegged back after taking the lead and while they dominated the second half, they could not grab that all important third goal. Kesh appeared very happy with their day’s work and were quite intent in slowing the game down at every opportunity and will probably know that a point was the most they deserved, and were relieved to get that.

Celtic opened brightly and McCusker saved well in the 8th minutes from Gavin Bradley’s well hit shot and Fitzpatrick did well to clear Seamus Bradley’s dangerous cross five minutes later. The home pressure brought a deserved goal on 20 minutes when Seamus Quinn’s free found Eamon Murray in the box was then able to turn and find Gavin Bradley at the far post who scored from close range. The Kesh equaliser came 6 minutes later when Nicky Allen was adjudged by the referee to have been fouled and Noble put away the resultant spot kick. A dubious decision to say the least, but it appears recently that match changing decisions have not been going Celtic’s way of late.

Draperstown restored the lead on 35 minutes when a bad foul by Callum Funston on Eamon Murray saw a yellow card and a free. Seamus Bradley’s put in a wonderful cross and Gavin Bradley’s header gave McCusker no chance. Two minutes later and Funston again put in a bad challenge which was also worthy of a yellow card but this time the referee did not even award the foul much to the dismay of the Draperstown team. This was a let off for Kesh and they took advantage and they equalised when Mark Jones scored from Alan Johnston’s cross to leave the score level at half time.

The second half again saw Draperstown take the game to their opponents and they were denied a blatant penalty on 52 minutes when in a goal mouth scramble, Murray’s shot was blocked on the line by a defender whose use of his hands was evident to everyone but the official who waved away all the Celtic claims. Again Kesh nearly took advantage of the situation when Noble was denied only by a brave save from McConnell who dived at the forward’s feet. Noble was injured in the clash and took no further part in the game. The last twenty minutes saw Celtic dominate the game with Kesh relying on the break.

Seamus Bradley fired wide on 68 minutes after being played in by Gavin Bradley. Further chances fell to McLean, Higgins, Conway and Murray but none of them were able to test McCusker in the Kesh nets. Draperstown introduced Chris Larkin for his debut and while he looked very lively, he was unable to produce a goal for his new team. Right the end, Kesh had a great chance to steal all the points when Alvin Anderson could only shoot weakly at McConnell but his team were more than happy with the point.

A great effort from Draperstown which did deserve more, and with a little luck they would have recorded their first league win of the season.

Next week Draperstown are at home to Raceview in the Irish Cup.

Next First Team Fixture

League Cup Group Stage | Saturday 4 September 2010
V
Strabane v Draperstown Celtic