Irish Junior Cup R3
It may have been Paddy Mallon who scored the winning penalty which sent Draperstown through to Round 4 of the Irish Junior cup, but it was the heroics of keeper Martin Farniouk which was the foundation for the result. There were times when it seemed that he was single handily keeping the home side out such was his prowess and Lower Shankill will feel that apart from his performance their name would have been in the hat for the 4th round draw. But football is all about taking chances when they arrive and Draperstown did that in the tenth minute when a long ball found McGuigan who stroked the ball past the keeper to give his side the lead against the run of play.
Twice before that, Farniuok had denied Lower Shankill when they looked certain to score, but they did find an equaliser on 17 minutes when Mallon failed to clear and the forward broke into the box and scored in off the post. The remainder of the half saw the home side put a lot of pressure on the Draperstown team but with Mallon and McDaid standing strong in the heart of the defence, the sides were level at the half time whistle. The second half saw Lower Shankill push forward looking for the lead goal and had a great opportunity when Mallon was harshly adjudged to have handled and a penalty was awarded. However, Farniouk produced a wonderful save to his left to keep his side in the game.
Draperstown themselves were more of an attacking force in the second half with the pace of Flanagan and McGuigan together with the guile of Manning causing the home defence a few problems. Kennedy’s forceful ventures caused Lower Shankill to concede territory and frees but Draperstown didn’t really put the home keeper under enough sustained pressure. Paul McGovern did produce a good shot on the turn which the keeper managed to palm away while McGuigan almost got his second when he latched onto Groogan’s excellent pass, beat the keeper with a low shot but a home defender managed to clear with the referee indicating the whole of the ball had not crossed the line.
With game heading into extra time Draperstown had loud claims for a penalty turned away when McGuigan was crudely taken down in the box for what seemed an obvious penalty, but with the referee waving on play this was the last opportunity to win the game in normal time. Extra time saw two tiring teams do their best to grab the all important second goal but with Franiouk looking unbeatable the game went to penalties. Here, the keeper’s heroics continued as he saved the first two Lower Shankill penalties to put Draperstown firmly in the driving seat. Successful penalties from McGuigan, Bradley, McCullagh and Mallon saw the reserves home by 4 – 2 and a place secured in the next round.
