The NAFL, Premier Division,
Venue: Meadowvale, 1st March 2025,
Final score: Drumaness Mills 1 1 Dromara Village
Dromara Village made the short trip to Drumaness for this league game and despite going behind early on fought back to earn a share of the spoils in a hard fought encounter writes Cyril McKinney.
Drumaness’s Conor McCourty bundled the ball home after just three minutes from a right wing corner to give the home side an early lead but as the first half developed Dromara came back into the game and had their chances but failed to capitalise.
Ben Martin blazed over the bar at the back post from a deep right wing corner on 22 minutes and three minutes later Dromara left winger Colum McComish let fly with a thunderbolt from the edge of the area but Drumaness keeper Aaron Carberry showed great agility to turn the shot away.
Then on 28 minutes Dromara number 10 Ben Martin got on the end of another cross and his header was again superbly saved at close range by Carberry. Both sides had their fair share of possession but clear cut chances were at a premium.
Dromara rallied in the second half and equalised on 66 minutes through Tom Stannage at the back post after good approach work down the left channel by Martin.
This appeared to set up a real edge to the game with both sides committed to attack. On 71 minutes Dromara were reduced to 10 men when McComish reacted to a strong Drumaness challenge and the referee showed him a straight red.
This seemed to galvanise Dromara and they battled hard for every ball and the backline stood up to waves of Drumaness attacks with their young keeper McStay showing great agility and great handling to relieve the pressure.
In the final 10 minutes Callum Duggan had a shot just wide before Jack Sharvin hit the post and from the rebound a snapshot from Daniel Bell was parried by McStay before Sharvin blazed over from 10 yards.
Drumaness Mills is doing well in 6th spot in the Premier League having played 15 games and are on a level with Comber Rec who they play next Saturday. That should be a real dong-dong of a match!
Dromara are 3rd bottom ahead of Rosemount Rec and Crumlin Utd who are trailing and Dromara should escape relegation if but by a whisker.
Drumaness Mills: Aaron Carberry (GK), Keegan Domican, Sean Og Kelly, Conor McCourty, Gary Murdock (C), Peter Brannigan, Andrew Watson, Daniel Bell, Callum Dougan, Jack Sharvin, Andrew Kearney. Subs: Jamie Morgan for Conor McCourty, Declan Looney for Sean Og Kelly , Damien Turley.
Dromara Village: Oisin McStay, Jordan Clarke, Gavin Conn, Ryan Milligan, Ben Hanna, Abass Sabiku, Tom Stannage, Nathan Hamilton, Caolan Teer, Ben Martin, Colum McComish. Subs: Matthew McCandless for Jordan Clarke.
