New Oak second string win against Balto boys
Baltinglass Town Boys 1 New Oak Boys 2
Ciaran Smithers (Parkville) under pressure from Burrin's Garreth Treacy during the Premier Division game at Hawkins Lane on Sunday. Credit: Photo: Joe Byrne.
Tuesday March 09 2010
FASHIONED AS hard style masters, the New Oak second string knew this would be the sternest of tests against a well-organised Baltinglass outfit whose keeper Paddy Cronin was in sparkling form throughout. New Oak's efforts at peeling the Baltinglass defensive sector open saw Tom Collins set up Colin Nolan shot which was deflected into space by the Baltinglass keeper who made another save when Stephen Hennessy followed up on eleven minutes.
The Baltinglass defensive formula was working a treat in preventing New Oak patiently mounting attacks yet Chris Power released a pass into unprotected space behind the Baltinglass last line of defence for Stephen Hennessy's shot to find the side netting on 28 minutes.
New Oak's midfield talisman Willy Doyle was forced to retire injured and this might have been expected to tilt the game firmly in Town's favour.
However, New Oak plundered the lead when the trajectory of Kevin Power's lengthy throw, left Paddy Sinnott and Christopher Redmond marking space as Colin Nolan rushed forward to knock the ball back for Tom Collins to score on 42 minutes.
The Carlow lads suddenly had their tails up and when a promising Baltinglass attack broke down the ball was punted forward into seemingly hopeless space near the Baltinglass flag. Stephen Preston thought otherwise and won possession before crossing for Stephen Hennessy to plant a header to double the New Oak lead on the stroke of half time.
During the third quarter, the visitors found themselves defending at length against a Baltinglass unit capable of engineering scoring chances.
However New Oak remained dangerous on the break with Tom Collins racing through only to be fouled in the Baltinglass box resulting in a penalty which saw keeper Paddy Cronin make a great save to deflect the ball for an unproductive corner on 68 minutes.
This could have proved to be an expensive miss as Town's Chris Caplice free was defected past a stranded Jamie Hennessy in the New Oak goal on 70 minutes.
With Baltinglass furiously seeking what would have been a deserved equaliser the New Oak defence had to pull out all the stops during the closing exchanges to preserve their grip on the points.
Best for Baltinglass included Christopher Redmond, Paddy Cronin and Derek Nolan. Most impressive for New Oak included Daryl Hayden, Kevin Power and Stuart Connolly.
Palatine Celtic 10 Rathanna FC 1
AFTER RECORDING their first win of the season last week Rathanna could not have been surprised to find promotion hopefuls Palatine taking a solid approach to the exchanges and the home team engineered scoring chances which were clinically converted by
Gavin Farrell and John Reid, four each and a brace from Billy McDonald ensured that Palatine's promotion bid stays on track. Best for Celtic on the day were Billy McDonald, Chris O'Brien, and John Reid.
