Sluggish Wolfhounds turned over by Ardmore veterans

Ardmore 1-9 Limavady 1-8

By BERNIE MULLAN

The winners were well with their victory over a Limavady team that maybe thought that it was just a matter of turning up but they found to their cost that Admore had been around too many corners to be easily brushed aside.

Limavady have been unbeatable this year, disposing of opponents with ease since the first game of the league season, and they were expected to reach the junior final with a bit to spare against a team that has struggled to find their consistency in 2010.

But the one team that gave Limavady a scare in the league went one further yesterday as they produced a disciple, patient and mature performance to make a mockery of predictions of a Wolfhounds whitewash.

There was little surprise that Limavady took the lead just seconds into the game from a John Deighan free but a point from Danny Gavin sparked an entertaining opening period with neither team able to pull away from the other.

The first fifteen minutes were as extraordinarily open for a semi-final with both sides trading scores; Eoghan Rogers and Sean Forrest scoring for Limavady but Chris Duddy and William McLaughlin responding in kind for Ardmore.

It was then a matter of the calm after the storm as both sides went from prolific to unproductive, both hitting a series of wides as the half entered its final ten minutes. Deighan in particular was guilty of some bad misses for Limavady, hitting two 45's surprisingly wide for a player of his ability.

It was then that Ardmore took the lead for the first time in the game, James Cruikshank taking the score, and from that moment on Limavady were playing catch up.

The story of the game might have been mush different had Eoghan Rogers scored when presented with a great goal scoring opportunity as half time approached, but he could not beat Eoin Mailey, who denied the forward with a wonder save from close range.

That was to prove so crucial in this game as Ardmore went down the other end and scored the game's opening goal, Barry Gormley sticking away a penalty with aplomb after a foul on Paul McLaughlin.

A superb score from Sean Forrest made the score 0-4 to 1-4 in Ardmore's favour at the break and the Wolfhounds went in at the break knowing there was plenty of work to be done.

Limavady started as they meant to go on with the second half's opening score, an Eoghan Kelly '45 tipped over the bar by Mailey.

William McLaughlin responded to restore the three point margin but this was now a crucial period for Ardmore who had to deal with mounting Limavady pressure.

But they held their own and their disciplined defensive performance was summed up when Chris Duddy bravely blocked a goal bound effort from Eoghan Kelly.

The minutes were passing by too quickly for Limavady who were beginning to realise that they were in trouble and when Paul McLaughlin took the lead to four points with twelve minutes remaining, it was clear to everyone that Ardmore were on the cusp of an upset.

Ardmore's resilience was again evident in that it took until ten minutes from time for the usually prolific Conor Forrest to register his first score, the full forward hitting two points in two minutes to leave this game on a knife edge again.

But when Ardmore needed it most, Barry Gormley delivered with a monster point from distance to take the score to 0-7 to 1-7 with just nine minutes plus injury time remaining.

Two wides from Ardmore showed a touch of nerves from the city side, but Pater McLaughlin eased them further with his first point to make it a four point deficit with just four minutes left.

But again the game might have swung Limavady's way had Eoghan Kelly scooped the ball into an empty net rather than over the bar, leaving the Wolfhounds desperately needing a goal in the final few minutes.

Ardmore brilliantly kept the ball to themselves as the clock ticked down and when Paul McLaughlin and William McLaughlin scored, it seemed that the victory was secure.

But things are never that simple, and Forrest broke clear to smash in a late goal for Limavady to leave Ardmore fraught for the final few seconds.

But the gap proved to be enough and the final whistle shortly afterwards began the start of some memorable Ardmore celebrations.

Their manager Paul Greene praised his players' performance after the game.

''You just have to hand it to them, maybe we should have won by a few more points, but all credit to the players, they fought for every ball, worked very hard for the sixty minutes, we gave our all, worked for every single ball. You seen the character of the Limavady boys, but all credit to our boys.

"We just kept the ball. Ardmore have a lot of good players but a few players just have to believe in themselves, and we just have to keep working like that and we'll be a match for most games.

'We're operating with a small squad, a squad of 19-20 players and some weeks you're missing two or three key players, and today was the first day we sort have had everyone together.

"I think we deserved it over the sixty minutes. I think we played just that little bit more football than Limavady. Just two teams who were evenly matched and thankfully we were lucky enough to win. I have no preference who we play just glad to be there," he said.

The teams

Limavady: Stephen Carton, Niall McKeever, John Carney, Conor Boyd, Ciaran Moore, James Thompson, Aaron Brolly, Stephen Keown, John Deighan (0-01), Damian McStocker (0-01), Sean Forrest (0-02), Eoghan Kelly (0-02), Ruairi O' Kane, Conor Forrest (1-02), Eoghan Rogers.

Subs: Ronan Herron for A Brolly, Daniel Quinn for S Keown, Sean Brolly for E Rogers.

Ardmore: Eoin Mailey, Brian McLaughlin, Barry Gavin, Kevin Robinson, Mark O'Kane, Pat Storey, Eoghan Dooher, Gerard Storey, Chris Duddy (0-01), Barry Gormley (1-01), James Cruickshank (0-01), Peter McLaughlin (0--1), William McLaughlin (0-03), Danny Gavin, Paul McLaughlin (0-03)

Subs: Dee McGee for J Cruickshank, Kevin Hartop for G Storey

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Bellaghy)