St Vincent’s settle for point

<strong>St Vincent’s Hospital FC 1-1  Fairview CYM</strong>

<strong>Fri 23 Feb 2018: Leinster Senior League (LSL) Major 1D</strong>

Under Friday night lights, Vincent’s endured a sloppy start and went 0-1 down inside five minutes. Fairview, pressing high, won possession at the edge of the box and rasped a drive into the top corner. Vincent’s could have been further behind had it not been for strong defensive work from Darren McMahon, Kieran Keane and Dean Huggard. Recovering from the early wobble, Vincent’s established a foothold and delivered better service into the front three. Creating a number of clear chances, the deserved equaliser arrived. Andrew Delaney advanced into midfield and played an incisive through ball for Fionn Nally to apply a clinical first time finish to the bottom corner. 1-1 was the score at the break, though Fairview had a glorious chance denied by a point blank save from Sean Keane on the stroke of half-time.

Vincent’s overcame another slow start to eventually apply pressure in the second half. Peter Kelly, Ruairi Irwin and Rory Durand bossed midfield, and pushed the team forward. Vincent’s were frustrated by a series of dubious offside calls that denied clear goalscoring opportunities for Fionn Nally and Aidan McGrath, both of whom possess extreme pace that can make life difficult for the referee. Protecting a point, Fairview had little incentive to abandon their defensive game plan.

Vincent’s pressed and Fairview countered on occasion, though neither side made the decisive breakthrough. 1-1 the final score. While disappointed, performances like that will result in more victories than defeats going forward.

<h3 class=”subheadMIstyles”>Vincent’s key performer</h3>

Fionn Nally’s quality low finish earned St Vincent’s a draw, and he was a constant threat. Linking play down the left, Fionn used a combination of quick footwork and intelligent movement to create a number of scoring opportunities. As we enter the business end of the season, the St Vincent’s Hospital/Mullingar intern will continue to be relied on as a source of creativity and goals coming off the left wing.

<h3 class=”subheadMIstyles”>Matchday squad vs Fairview CYM</h3>

Sean Keane, Patrick O’Connor, Darren McMahon, Andrew Delaney, Kieran Keane, Peter Kelly, Rory Durand, Ruairi Irwin, Edward Wrynn, Aidan McGrath, Fionn Nally, Dean Huggard, Paul Carroll, Luke Harrington, Luke Sheeran Purcell, Ronan Murray.

<h3 class=”subheadMIstyles”>Getting Involved</h3>

Follow the St Vincent’s Hospital FC Facebook page, or get in contact via email: <a href=”mailto:svuhfc@gmail.com”>svuhfc@gmail.com</a>.