The NAFL
League Match
Premier Division
Drumaness Mills 1 5 Shankill Utd
Report By Cyril McKinney.
Drumaness were understrength going into this game against Shankill who are flying high near the top of the table and despite holding their own in the opening exchanges, Drumaness found the game had slipped away from them by half-time.
The visitors, lying in second spot in the Premier League, were on the front foot, sharper in the tackle and first to every breaking ball and despite the best efforts of Mason and Fitzpatrick up front there were few quality final balls from Drumaness. Their best effort came on 16 minutes when Stefan Mason’s right wing cross found his brother Rory on the back post but his header drifted wide with the keeper stranded.
The visitors went in front on 23 minutes when following good link-up play through the middle of the Mills defence Shankill forward Luke Briers raced clear and calmly slotted the ball past the advancing Ryan Campbell into the Mills’ net.
Drumaness responded immediately through Stefan Mason who sprang the offside trap but was up-ended just outside the Shankill box which saw a red card being shown to Shankill defender Luke Braiden who was the last defender. Despite being a man down, Shankill reformed and continued to dominate and went further ahead on 39 minutes through the hard working Callan McCredie who had time to slot home again as the home keeper once again advanced and the result was confirmed only 5 minutes later when Ethan Bates fired home to make it 0-3 as half time approached.
On the restart, Drumaness came out on the front foot and were rewarded with a goal following good work from Stafan Mason who prodded a shot past the visiting keeper for Fitzpatrick to convert from close range to make it 1-3.
Briefly it looked like a comeback was on the cards as first Holland and then Fitzpatrick both shot wide from narrow angles.
Shankill made a change at the back with McKeown replacing Foster and upfront where Peoples replaced Crawford. Then Drumaness midfielder Rory Deegan was sent off on 73 minutes for two bookable offences and the Drumaness heads dropped. Any chance of a comeback was gone when Shankill’s super sub Peoples raced clear and fired past Campbell to make it 1-4.
And Campbell made it 1-5 on 80 minutes converting a through ball in some style. This was a tough day for this depleted home side and despite the best efforts of Murdock and Deegan at the back, Magee, Fitzpatrick and Mason up front Drumaness were no match for their visitors although they are placed 7th in the league table currently.
Drumaness FC: Ryan Campbell, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Christian Holland, Steven Deegan, Gary Murdock, Rory Deegan, Ruairi Fitzpatrick, Sean McQuoid, Stefan Mason, Michael Magee, Rory Mason. Subs: Tom McDonald for Michael Magee, Conn Murnin, Gavin Boyd
Shankill Utd: Tony Martin, Graham Foster, Brian Dickson, Luke Braiden, Robbie Morris, Kyle Dillon, Ethan Bates, Callan McCredie, Luke Briars, Curtis Black, Anthony Crawford. Subs: Martin Spence for Callan McCredie, Jamie Peoples for Anthony Crawford , Gareth McKeown for Graham Foster
