Fledgling Thistle side win on the road

Iveagh Thistle 5

ON Saturday Iveagh Thistle made the short journey to Dromore to play in week three of the George Best League.

It was Dromore who got off to the better start. It took some good work from centre back pairing of Woods and Scott and some fine saves by keeper Hunter to keep the home team at bay.

It took 10 minutes for Thistle to get a hold on the game when McCavitt shot narrowly wide followed by a Moore run which was well defended resulting in a corner.

Thistle kept up the pressure and it paid dividends in the 18th minute when McCavitt tucked away a penalty in the bottom corner of the Dromore net to send Thistle one up.

The home side pushed hard for an equaliser but the Thistle defense held firm and broke away themselves to score a second through Cairns on 26 minutes.

At half time Thistle replaced Hickey and Cairns with Stewart and Breen and soon into the second half Thistle went three up when Donnelly fired a dipping shot from 12 yards.

Dromore replied almost instantly with a well struck effort which seemed to give them renewed hope. On Iveagh Thistle's next attack Breen played an excellent ball through to Moore who was unlucky not to score.

The game was now flowing end to end with chances for both teams and if it hadn’t have been for the excellent Thistle keeper Hunter, the scoreline would have been very different at this stage.

Walker and Wilson were introduced to the play for Moore and McMillan as Iveagh Thistle began to press forward with their mid field starting to get on top but a long ball out of the Dromore defense caught out the Thistle back line as Dromore scored to make it 3-2.

Thistle responded quickly and from a throw-in Donnelly found himself unmarked in the Dromore box and made no mistake in reinstating the two goal advantage.

Thistle then replaced Russell with Hunter and soon after the score became 5-2 when McCavitt scored following a mix up in the Dromore defence.

Dromore, although down, never gave up and again keeper Hunter was called into action with a string of excellent saves but this late pressure from the home side paid dividends when they scored late on to make the final score 5-3.

Team: Hunter, Russell, Woods, Scott, Hickey, Moore, McMillan, Cairns, Carswell, McCavitt, Donnelly. Subs: Wilson, Walker, Hunter, Stewart, Breen.