Ladies come from behind to beat DC

Donegal Celtic Ladies 2 ON Wednesday June 9 at Holm Park Dromore Ladies entertained Donegal Celtic in the Championship of the NIWFA. Dromore went into the game on the back of a five match unbeaten run and knew a win tonight would see them go five points clear of DC who where their closest rivals for third spot. DC won the toss and decided to play with the slight breeze behind them. Early exchanges were scrappy as both teams sized each other up with no team taking a firm grasp of the game. DC settled quickly though and began to impose themselves, in particular their midfield began to dictate the play. With barely seven minutes on the clock DC broke the deadlock, their number seven won the ball and played it off to their forward who took the ball into the box and stuck the ball past Laura Magowan in the home goal. With their tails up DC began playing good flowing football without ever really hurting Dromore, whilst the home team just couldn't seem to get going. Dromore seemed unable to string passes together and at times could barely get out of their half. On 32 minutes DC doubled their lead, the number seven lost her marker and after one touch to get the ball out of her feet sent a 30 yard screamer into the top corner leaving Laura with no chance again. Dromore rallied straight away and a great ball from Lauren Gibson sent Kerry Taggart bearing down on goal, she beat the defender and the sweeper only to see her shot go over the bar. It had taken Dromore 35 minutes to have their first attack on goal a point which the Dromore management would remind the team of during the interval. Roger McCartan asked his players to give 100% more in the second half as for all DC’s pressure they had only mustered two shots on target. The players agreed they could play a lot better and went out determined to play the way they had in the last five games. Early exchanges saw Dromore start to emerge with the ball and DC were now starting to drop further back towards their keeper as Dromore pushed forward. Fifty-three minutes in and Roger made his first change, Jill Bruce was replaced by Louise Kelly who had made the long trip from Carlow to be available for the second half. Almost immediately Dromore started causing havoc in the DC defence and in the 55th minute Kerry struck a shot from inside the DC box which found the bottom corner of the DC net. The crowd on the sideline cheered with delight as at last Dromore started playing how they expected. Four minutes later and DC’s frustration was starting to show as Kerry was pulled down just outside the box. Tracy Orr stepped up and hit a tremendous shot which was too hot for the DC keeper to hold, the ball dropped out and Nicky Clements, restored to the Dromore attack, made no mistake from two yards. Dromore now went all guns blazing as the DC team began to argue and point fingers at each other. Sixty minutes on the clock and Kerry, beating the DC defence, threw in a fantastic cross but unfortunately Emma McClements couldn’t keep her scoring run going as the ball flashed over the bar. DC conceded two more free kicks and had the Dromore forwards had more luck then the game would have been long over. The visitors now played on the break and on 70th minutes almost caught Dromore out. The dangerous number seven picked the ball up outside the box but this time Laura was equal to the shot as she pushed it away for a corner. This was to be Dromore’s last scare as on 80th minute DC’s sweeper and captain handled the ball with the ref standing no more than six feet away. Tracey stepped up and struck the pen hard to the keeper’s right, she dived down and made the save only for Tracy to follow up and smash it into the net. It was as if Dromore had won the league as the whole team rushed to celebrate the goal. With four minutes remaining Dromore almost made it four when another Tracy free kick was headed by Kerry onto the DC post and then cleared in the scramble. Best for Dromore was the whole team including the three subs, all of whom played in the second half as on a night when they looked off their game the players lifted themselves to keep the promotion dream alive. This result puts Dromore five points clear of DC with the top two Loughgall and Fermanagh being their next two opponents in the league. With the points now safely in the bag Dromore can concentrate on the cup with an away game to DC in the league cup and the visit of fourth division high flyers Sion Swifts in the third round of the Irish Cup.