Published: Friday, 5th June, 2009 9:00am

Tullamore lose out to Drogs in second half goal spree

Soccer: League of Ireland ‘A’ Championship

Tullamore made the long trip to Drogheda last Sunday but left empty-handed as they went down by the odd goal in five in this keenly contested game. The first half was pretty uneventful with neither side able to carve out any clear-cut chances, but this all changed after the interval with four goals coming in the first twenty minutes of the second half.

The first came within three minutes of the restart when the home side"s centre-forward pounced on a Scott Delaney defensive header to drive a low shot into the right hand corner of the net. Three minutes later, they had doubled their advantage when once again the defence failed to deal with a high ball into the area and the Drogheda centre-forward fired past Joe Mooney from the edge of the box. With 55 minutes on the clock, Town hit back when Brian Francis gained possession and made a great twenty-yard run, before exchanging passes with Mark Goodings, and rounding the centre-half and then placing the ball past the advancing keeper for the goal of the game.

With the visitors going all out for an equaliser they were again caught out at the back when they failed to clear and the dangerous home centre-forward crossed the ball into the area for a simple tap-in. Tullamore refused to lie down and battled their way back into the game when Goodings was taken down in the area and Kevin Duffy sent the keeper the wrong way with his spotkick. United were reduced to ten men when their centre-half was sent off for a second yellow card, following a bad tackle on Simon Keegan. The visitors almost made their numerical advantage count when Duffy put Goodings through, but his shot drifted agonisingly past the far post to leave Drogheda deserved winners.

For Tullamore, there were outstanding performances from Willie Duffy, Brian Francis and Kevin Duffy, but the man-of-the-match award went to excellent defender Stephen Francis. Tullamore make the long trip north next Sunday, 7 June, when they take on Finn Harps in the A Championship.

Tullamore: Joe Mooney, Stephen Francis, Eoghan O"Shea, Scott Delaney, Willie Duffy, Dean Goode, Brian Francis, Kevin Duffy, Gary Buckley, Simon Keegan, Mark Goodings. Subs: Fergal Gorman, Michael Hoey, Anthony Heffernan, Michael Kenaney.

Colgan Memorial Trophy

A Tullamore selection travelled to Dublin last weekend where they took on Verona Boys in the final of the Colgan Memorial Trophy and duly came home with the cup following a fine 1-0 win.

The all-important goal came on twenty minutes when Keith O"Connor was fouled in the area and Stephen Murray stepped up to drive the spot kick home. In what was a hard fought, high tempo game, there were outstanding performances from Dean Molloy, Jim Colgan, Leon Dunne and Stephen Keogh, but the man-of-the-match award went to Tullamore defender Terry Hilliard.

Tullamore: Dean Molloy, Jim Colgan, Terry Hilliard, Leon Dunne, Stephen Keogh, Keith O"Connor, Stephen Murray, Shane Mangan, Aaron Murtagh, Justin Farrell, Fernando da Silva. Subs: Ray Connolly, Noel Colgan, Niall Morris, Brian McDonald.

Special Olympics Presentation

Irish international Paul McGrath made a special presentation to coach Lesley Francis and the Tullamore Special Olympics Team at the de Bruns CCFL Awards night in The Bridge House last Friday evening.