Disallowed 'phantom' goal can't prevent Draperstown win

UUC 1

QUESTION: When is a goal not a goal?

It appears that the answer to that problem is when Benny Heron hits a screaming drive from 25 yards which hits the inside of the left hand post, rebounds behind the keeper onto the right had stanchion and back out. Oh and the other part of the answer is that the referee is the only person in the ground who did not see what had happened.

The phantom goal was certainly the main talking point of the game which Celtic fully deserved to win. Indeed added to Heron’s wonderful “goal” was a missed penalty from Eamon Murray which should have resulted a greater margin of victory.

The early exchanges did not give much of a clue as to the later excitement. Indeed UUC had plenty of early possession but the Draperstown back four appeared to dealing comfortably with the early pressure but their concentration was badly lacking on the half hour when a harmless looking free kick was allowed to bounce on the six yard line and Paddy Trolan pounced to put the students a goal up after 30 minutes.

Celtic have conceded first in their last three outings but have come back strongly and Saturday was no exception.

With Garteh Haskins and Adrian McGuigan operating well on both wings, Draperstown soon had UUC under pressure. A series of corners brought the equaliser on 35 minutes when Bradley’s in swinging corner was headed past his own keeper by Handford.

The visiting side almost handed Draperstown the lead right on half time when Haskin’s great cross was hit against his own cross bar by McLoughlin as he attempted to clear the danger.

The second half was largely dominated by Draperstown who had UUC on the back foot from the re start. The lead was gained on 47 minutes when Haskins’ great pass found Caulfield on the right with space and time to pick out the in rushing McGuigan who volleyed home from 12 yards for a good team goal.

Such was the dominance of Celtic at this stage that only a despairing challenge prevented Darren McKillion bearing down on goal after the centre half’s foraging run from the half way line.

Heron came on for Higgins on the hour mark and his probing runs and passes only added to UUC’s woes. Such a run on 70 minutes saw him ghost past a defender before shooting, with the unfortunate Tasker deflecting the ball past a flat footed McKeough.

This left the visitors with a mountain to climb if they were to get anything out of the game and to be fair, they did not really seem able to sustain any sort of possession or pressure on Draperstown.

It should have been much worse for them on 75 minutes when Heron’s sublime movement saw him get by two challenges before he unleashed a ferocious drive from 25 yards which deflected off the post and onto the stanchion and back out to Eamon Murray who kicked the ball away before turning to join in the celebrations.

These were cut short by the referee who awarded a goal kick and despite the obvious and legitimate appeals he did not change his decision.

The referee was soon involved again, this time in favour of Celtic when Kirkpatrick took down McGuigan in the box and he awarded a penalty on 84 minutes.

The usually reliable Murray banked on McGeough doing what most keepers do when facing a spot kick and dive to one side. However, he stood his ground and caught Murray’s chip leaving him rather embarrassed at his effort.

The last few minutes saw no more goal scoring opportunities and the game ended in a comfortable 3-1 win for Draperstown. Or was that 4-1?