Forrest fire saves Wolfhounds
Thursday, 23 October 2008
NOT for the first time in recent years big postman Conor Forrest delivered in style as the Limavady Wolfhounds ground out an unconvincing victory over Division Five minnows in miserable conditions at Drumsurn to avoid relegation.
This victory keeps the Wolfhounds in Division Four for another season but really with the players they have at their disposal they never should have been in the position of having to play off to keep their league status.
The Wolfhounds full-forward racked up an individual tally of 1-6 to see his side cling on to their place in Division Four after what has been a disappointing campaign for Limavady.
Once Forrest breached the Drum defence for the game's opening goal on 34 minutes the game moved inexorably beyond the reach of the Gortnaghey men with Ruairi O'Kane's getting Limavady's second goal to copperfasten the result.
For their part Drum will look back ruefully at game where they looked well set at half-time when they trailed by only a point after having played into the strong wind. The St Colm's men will also wonder what might have been had they taken advantage of a first half penalty opportunity when Kevin O'Reilly saw his spot kick brilliantly saved by Derry goalkeeper John Deighan.
Limavady were the first to trouble the scorers as Forrest converted from a second minute free after Sean Brolly had been fouled. The Wolfhounds soon doubled that tally with Forrest again on target, this time after Lorcan McCloskey had been hauled down.
However, Drum soon settled into the game with James McCartney and Shane Burke taking control at midfield and they pulled a point back when Paddy Moore converted a free after Eoghan Kelly's foul on Niall Burke. The sides were then level on 10 minutes when Adrian O'Kane pointed on the turn and with 15 minutes on the clock Drum edged in front as Rory O'Reilly split the posts for a 0-3 to 0-2 lead. Limavady responded as Conor Forrest pointed after good work by Ruairi O'Kane to level matters before Drum were presented with a gilt-edged opportunity to grab the first goal.
Paddy Moore's free came back of the woodwork and when a Limavady defender went to ground on the ball, the referee awarded a penalty for playing the ball on the deck in the small square. Kevin O'Reilly stepped up to his the kick and although his shot was well struck Deighan dived acrobatically to his right to parry the ball to safety.
Drum did retake the lead when Paddy Moore converted a free but with Eoin Rodgers introduced off the bench in ball winning role in the forward line and Danny Quinn moving to midfield Limavady were looking more business like.
The scores were level again at four points each when Connor Forrest bagged a super solo point and Limavady took the lead in first half injury time when Eoghan Rodgers sprinted through to arrow a shot over the crossbar.
With the wind at their backs the stage seemed set for a Drum onslaught but Joe Irwin's side were rocked by the game's first goal on 34 minutes. Ruairi O'Kane's clever quick free found Eoin Rodgers and he flicked the ball back to Conor Forrest who finished low from close range past the despairing dive of Cahair O'Kane.
Limavady increased their advantage to 1-6 to 0-4 when Forrest then hammered home a long range point but Drum responded with a Donal Brolly point.
However, any chance of a Drum fight back was severely reduced when Ruairi O'Kane reacted quickest to Forrest's miss-hit shot to slide the ball home from close range. With Forrest adding another point Limavady's lead was up to 2-7 to 0-5 and the game seemed all but over as a contest.
However, to Drum's credit they refused to lie down and threw themselves lifeline when Adrian O'Kane blasted the ball to the Limavady net with eight minutes to go after a deflected shot had come back off the crossbar.
However, that was to be the last score of the match as Limavady slowed the game down and killed it off, indeed it was the Wolfhounds who came closest to troubling the scorers again when Forrest cracked a thunderbolt of a shot of the crossbar.
There was however, still time for sendings off as Limavady's Eoin Rodgers saw a second yellow and Paddy Higgins a straight red and Drum's Stephen McLaughlin and Kevin O'Reilly both saw straight red after an off the ball incident in injury time.
