Ten-man Chord Celtic suffer hammer blow

KENTSTOWN ROVERS 4

THREE quick-fire first-half goals for Kentstown Rovers set them up for victory at DIFE on Friday night as Chord Celtic suffered a heavy home defeat.

Indeed the outcome could have been a whole lot worse as the Drogheda side were already down to 10 men when Kentstown scored for the fourth time early in the second half, but Cormac Reid’s men did rally in the latter stages and salvaged a small bit of pride by keeping a clean sheet in the remaining time as well as grabbing a consolation goal.

On another night the scoreline might have been a whole lot closer as Chord dominated the second half and created enough scoring opportunities to draw level despite their numerical disadvantage.

With Chord’s reserve side playing on the same night, player manager Reid had a weakened squad to select from and he named himself on the bench to bolster the numbers.

These teams met two years ago in the Challenge Cup Final and on that occasion the Meath side raced into an early lead and it was a repeat story here as only two minutes had elapsed when Kentstown scored from their first attack.

A direct ball over the top saw the Chord defence caught flat and the resulting shot gave goalkeeper Enda O’Carroll no chance.

Chord struggled to get into the game and they were 2-0 down on 23 minutes as Kentstown scored for the second time using their favoured route one option.

Just after the half-hour mark the visitors struck again to leave Chord with a mountain to climb, while at the other end the home forwards were living off scraps at this stage.

Things went from bad to worse for the hosts just before the break when Nathan Llewellyn was shown a straight red card.

At the start of the second half Chord seemed to be finding a bit of rhythm, but they then suffered a hammer blow as Kentstown struck for the fourth time.

A brilliant turn and shot from the league’s second highest scorer Leo Mendes gave O’Carroll no chance and it was surely a case of ‘game over’ at that stage.

The hosts did manage to muster a response, though, peppering the Rovers goal with attempts from long range as they settled more into the game.

Aidan Murphy was trying to replicate his performance from the week previous when he hit a hat-trick and he whipped one shot just wide of the post, while another was saved by the keeper.

With 20 minutes to go Ciaran McDonnell was brought on in place of Jake Farrell and from a corner soon after his introduction he hit a bullet header which was cleared off the line as Chord pushed for a goal.

Club captain Brandon Sullivan also had several half-chances, but the 10 men got some reward for their efforts in the 92nd minute when Murphy made a break from midfield, beating two players, before unleashing a drive into the roof of the net for a consolation goal.

It came much too late to affect the outcome, however, and the defeat leaves Chord in mid-table in what is a strongly contested Premier Division.

Chord CELTIC: Enda O’Carroll, Jake Devine, Adam O’Connor, Helder Mota, Dean Haggins, Nathan Llewellyn, Alan Dyas, Brandon Sullivan, Jake Farrell (Ciaran McDonnell), Aidan Murphy, Aaron Dale (Shaun Bannon).