19.11.17
St Anthonys Kilcoole 5, Spartak 5
Another extraordinary match and scoreline in what is becoming a weekly goalfest.
Three up inside fifteen minutes, Spartak’s blistering attacking moves showed zest, quick passing and clinical finishing to disorient the home defence. Jeff Gamble’s persistence and tenacity got the first goal inside a minute; then he combined with Ger Byrne who crossed for Owen Marron to nod in. Owen and Dave Kernan’s move saw Ger Byrne hit the bar with Stuart Love knocking in the rebound.
The home side rallied somewhat and forced Kevin Loftus into a couple of saves. Darragh Logue produced an elegant piece of defending to halt a dangerous move. But it was not till the stroke of half time that they reduced arrears when Kevin Loftus parried a shot into the path of an attacker who fired in.
There were several penalty claims by Spartak ignored, most obviously when Steve Grier was pushed in the back before he could shoot.
With just four second half minutes gone, St Anthony’s made it 2-3 when a long cross was squared back across the six yard box for an unmarked tap in. Worse was to follow when Owen Marron, having tracked back assiduously, made a hash of his clearance and the local player took full advantage – 3.3.
Steve Grier forced in Steve Walsh’s spot kick at the second attempt to regain the lead for the Sky Blues before the hosts struck back twice to gain the lead for the first time. With 8 minutes remaining the Walsh/Grier axis struck again from a flag kick for Steve Grier to equalise.
Then the real helter-skelter began as both sides went all out attack.
Both Niall Lennon and Dave Kernan had clear runs on goal as the final whistle approached, but heavy touches proved costly. The home team also spurned a couple of good opportunities before the game ended as Spartak broke again – but the ref blew to book a home player, before finally blowing the whistle on a breathtaking match.
Form Report
Kevin Loftus 6 Dave Kernan 7 Billy O’Neill 7 Darragh Logue 7 Karl McCullagh 7 Stuart Love 7 Owen Marron 7 Niall Lennon 8 Steve Grier 8 Ger Byrne 8 Jeff Gamble 8
Subs: Dave Browne 5 Steve Walsh 7 Cian Donohoe 5
