Match Report

19-Apr-08 Mullaghbawn V Maghery ACL Div 1

Mullaghbawn 1 – 9,  Maghery 0 – 10

Perfect conditions at Mullaghbawn GFC lent to a fast and ferocious game of football on Sunday evening past. The opening few minutes of the game witnessed wides, scores, saves and heavy hits which set the tone for an intense league encounter between these north and south Armagh clubs.

Maghery were handed the earliest opportunity to score after Stefan Forker was fouled going forward in the first minute, but the resulting free kick bore no fruits. At the other end of the park visiting goalkeeper, Dermot Fox, was forced into making an excellent save after Mullaghbawn orchestrated a good build up of play. Action swung back immediately to the other end of the pitch where Seamus and Conor Forker, Michael McConville and Eamon Robinson all combined well to set up Stefan Forker for his, Maghery’s, and the game’s first point of the evening.

The home side equalised two minutes later, converting a free, and inched their way into the lead four minutes after that with a point from play. Maghery’s Eamon Robinson was unlucky when his effort swung wide of the posts, before the home side made it 3 points to 1 with another one pointer from play going into the second quarter. Seamus Forker narrowed Maghery’s deficit to the minimum with a great score under pressure, before Niall Forker landed the equaliser a minute later.

These couple of scores seemed to spur on the Maghery campaign which resulted in a Conor Forker point from play and a Stefan Forker conversion, giving the MacDermott’s a 2 point lead with half time fast approaching. But just before the man in the middle got to sound the interval whistle, Mullaghbawn slotted over a free kick making the half time score Mullaghbawn 0 – 4, Maghery 0 – 5.

As with the first half, it was Stefan Forker who registered the first score of the second half, before Mullaghbawn pointed from play. A lapse of cohesiveness in the Maghery play around the middle of the park proved costly when the ball ended up in the back of the visitor’s nets just three minutes after recommencement of play. A tough blow to the loughsiders, who by this stage had also lost the services of an on-form Kevin Nugent, forced to retire from the game early through injury.

It was a couple of wides later before the ever reliable Stefan Forker notched up a superb point from play despite the attention of two or three Mullaghbawn defenders. The same player recorded Maghery’s eighth point two minutes later, again under tremendous pressure, and the sides were level once more. It was all to play for as this end-to-end game entered the final quarter. Again the services of Maghery goalkeeper Dermot Fox were called upon, with another fine save being produced at a crucial stage of proceedings.

Maghery’s defense was digging deep and Conor Mackle in particular was shouldering a lot of heavy hits around the centre-half back line. He was flanked and ably assisted by Stephen Nugent and Eamon Toye when the Mullaghbawn attack poached in and around their scoring territory. Eamon Robinson, who it’s good to see back after a long-term injury, seemed to cover every inch of the park, and contributed well to Maghery’s game.

The two Lappin brothers tried hard, with the younger of the two, sixteen year old Ronan, stepping up to the mark around the middle of the park, when the going got tough. Up front for Maghery Stefan Forker kicked over another free and the loughshore outfit crept into a marginal lead once again. When a hard working Eamon Robinson was unceremoniously pulled down thirty yards out from the Mullaghbawn goalposts, up stepped Stefan Forker, who incidentally scored all of his side’s points in the second half, to do the formalities.

With two points to spare over the home side, Maghery alas failed to keep their foot on the pedal, and paid dearly. In contrast, Mullaghbawn put their scoring engine into gear and put four more points for themselves on the scoreboard within five minutes, two frees and two from play. Now it was the south Armagh team who led by two and Maghery’s two chances to equalise in the closing five minutes went agonisingly wide. More valuable league points slipped away when a win or at least a sharing of the spoils was there for the taking.

Full-time score Mullaghbawn 1 – 9,  Maghery 0 – 10.

Maghery scorers: Stefan Forker 0 – 7, Seamus Forker, Conor Forker and Niall Forker 0 – 1 each.