Familiar foe spoils day as DHFC settle for point

HFC’s next league match was another away game on Saturday 18 February against Rosemount Mulvey.

On the absentee list this week was player-manager Rory Durand, who fractured his ankle during a training session. Thankfully, he made an adequate enough recovery to be able to show off his twinkle toes at his wedding. Congrats and best wishes to Rory and his wife Gillian from all at DHFC.

In a rare demonstration of consistency in the DHFC team, the same back four started this game as the 2-0 victory against Dundrum and were aiming to keep another clean sheet. Paul Schutze returned and DHFC had an extremely strong collection of substitutes to call upon for this game.

DHFC began the game strongly and dominated the early exchanges. Some decent chances were created, the best of which fell to Conor Vaughan at the edge of the box. Vaughan controlled the ball well and unleashed a shot only for the crossbar to prevent him from registering a goal for the second consecutive game. Later in the half, Vaughan was played through on goal and, unfortunately, the crossbar denied him once again. DHFC continued to play on the front foot despite these missed chances and eventually found the breakthrough.

Some nice build-up play starting all the way from Paul, led to Ger Cheevers sending a delightful delivery across the face of the goal. Prolific goalscorer Dave Gildea, was quickest to react to this at the front post and finished the ball smartly. Rosemount did not really trouble the DHFC goal in the first-half and it was 0-1 at the break.

Unfortunately, Rosemount started the second-half much brighter than they did in the first and DHFC struggled to match their intensity. Despite this, DHFC were able to deal with much of the threat that they posed. Rosemount eventually broke DHFC’s strong resolve and levelled the game through a fine effort from their striker that left Paul with no chance.

After this equaliser, DHFC improved their performance and began to pose a threat once again. However, DHFC were unable to find a winner and the game finished as a 1-1 draw.

Team: Paul Schutze, Brian Conlon, Ray Winters, Evan Preston-Kelly, Eoghan Daly, James Clarke, John Cosgrove, Brian Gaffney, Ger Cheevers, David Gildea, Conor Vaughan.

Subs: Kevin Caldwell, Matty Berkley, Luke Sheehan-Purcell, Jake Gilchrist.

PS: Dublin Hospitals FC would like to thank our wonderful sponsors Medisec Ireland. Match highlights provided by medicalaccountant.ie are available now at the official club YouTube channel @dublinhospitalsfc. Don’t forget to subscribe to keep up to date. Go online to www.dublinhospitalsfc.com for all the latest DHFC news, records, results, and other features.