Ardglass Enjoy Comfortable Win Over Newcastle

Ardglass Enjoy Comfortable Win Over Newcastle ARDGLASS came out with a resounding victory in this end of season league clash. On an afternoon of heavy cold showers and strong wind, playing conditions were far from  pleasant, but Ardglass stuck to their task despite the side being tired after playing a backlog of games. The first real opportunity came when Newcastle in the opening minutes attacked and Jackie O’Connor passed to Philip Fl0od and the knock in was just wide of the post. Ardglass forward Ian Kearney then took a shot at the Newcastle goal and sent it over the bar. But in the 5th minute, Chris Teggart broke through the Newcastle defence in a head on run and calmly placed the ball into the back of the net. [caption id="attachment_23807" align="alignleft" width="290" caption="Stephen Deegan attacking for Ardglass against Newcastle."][/caption] Even though the surface was slippy, Teggart and Stephen Deegans were showing plenty of attacking spirit, but Newcastle were challenging quickly to pull back the equaliser. But they were to be denied when Ian Kearney went solo from inside the half way line and from 30 yards out sent a low hard shot across the goal into the back post beating keeper Paddy Baker. For the next 20 minutes, Ardglass attacked a lacklustre Newcastle side with incisive forays and looked as though a third would come. Ardglass looked more comfortable in control and were showing positive passing skills. Then the game slipped into another spell of scrappy football where neither team looked on top. There was drama as Newcastle’s Mulholland let fly a volley which just went over the bar. Then in the 43rd minute, Ardglass earned a corner, and Liam Mullan fired it to the head of Teggart  prowling in the goal mouth. He headed it down to the feet of Sean-Paul Halpen who made a quick, clinical finish. Before the whistle, both teams again had shots at goal and were just wide. In the second period, Chris Teggart forced Baker to make a do or die save then it was Mark Armstrong turn to make a great save in the Ardglass goal as Newcastle’s Flood unleashed a powerful volley. Ian Kearney was involved in a number of threatening attacks by Ardglass and sent a ball again just past the post in another missed opportunity. But 15 minutes into the second half, Teggart showed his class when he headed the ball to Stephen Deegans who slid it past Baker from a few yards out. Chris Teggart was finding a lot of space on the right to operate and made the best use of it. In the 63rd minute, Teggart passed to Deegans who passed to Ian who and it was quickly despatched into the net from 15 yards out. But Ardglass took their foot off the pedal and allowed Newcastle to come back at them when O’Connor had a great run through the middle and buried the ball [caption id="attachment_23808" align="alignright" width="400" caption="Andrew Kearney drills the ball into the Newcastle nets"][/caption] into the net past Armstrong. A short time later Flood was unlucky not to score when his shot was stopped by Armstrong from going in just inside the post. For a spell, Ardglass looked quite static, and Newcastle were on the comeback. Then Flood sent a cross through the Ardglass goal picked up by O’Connor who made sure of his goal at close range. But this effort was cancelled out as Richard Kerr who came on for a sub for Ardglass collected the ball at the back of the Necastle box and unleashed a volley giving Baker no chance of saving it. Ardglass now look forward to their Clarence Cup final at Wilgar Park on Wednesday  evening and have proven they are in a goal scoring mood. But they will have to maintain concentration for the full 90 minutes, with no lapses. And they will have to maintain their discipline in order to bring the silver home. They are fit, capable, confident, and up for it. Currently at the top of Division Ib with 62 points after promotion from 1c last season, Ardglass are on the way up to Division 1A… pending of course Derriaghy not collecting maximum points this coming week as they as sitting on 59 points with a game in hand. It will be a close cut thing, but my money is on Ardglass for the league! The pressure is on Derriaghy to deliver. All the best lads! Ardglass:  Mark Armstrong, Daniel Fleming, James Telford, Stephen Rooney, Chris Deegans, Sean Paul Halpen, Stephen Deegan, Gareth Telford, Chris Teggart, Ian Kearney, Liam Mullan. Subs: Mark Feenan, Richard Kerr, Le McEvoy. Newcastle:  Paddy Baker, Neil Collins, Chris Collins, Brian McCombe, Ciaran Keenan, Gareth Scannel, David McKenna, Philip Bonny, Philip Flood, Jackie O’Connor, Paddy Mulholland. Subs: Conor Hayes, Dessie McCartan, Neil Corr.]]>