South keep good times rolling with win

FOLLOWING on from last week’s hard fought victory against Ballynahinch, South Antrim Firsts wanted to keep the good times rolling with an even tougher away trip to Newry.

The match started at a frantic pace with Newry controlling most of the early possession and South finding it difficult to hold on to the ball but frustration started to show for the opposition who failed to make any of these early chances count. This frustration was compounded by the dogged performance of the dynamic Marshall duo in the middle of the park who were not content to let Newry have control of the game. Some feisty challenges from both sides led to green and yellow cards with the umpires doing well to keep the match under some sort of control.

Discipline was key in terms of fouls but also in terms of their tactics. South absorbed this early pressure and turned it into flowing counter attacking hockey with John Semple and Paul Maguire doing a brilliant job of holding the ball up to allow the midfield to come into the game. These tactics eventually brought dividends with South winning a short corner towards the end of the first half. Up stepped set piece specialist Ricky O’Neill with a signature drag flick into the top left hand corner of the goal. The net ballooned, the crowd went quiet and the visitors went in to the second half 1-0 up.

The second half was much of the same with not much hockey being played but a lot of cards being shown. The term “defence wins championships” was never more evident than in this game with a very strong showing from South Antrim’s back four to keep the score at 1-0 to the away side. Newry’s misery was compounded by a Pat Jennings like performance from the ever reliable Chris Moulden in nets. He pulled off a string of outstanding saves which left the home side puzzled as to how they could score.

Solid play from Adam Glass and Darren Hutchinson helped relieve some of this pressure down the right hand side and gave the defense some much needed rest.

It wasn’t a pretty performance from the young South side but it was efficient and this is the kind of performance that defines seasons and keeps the momentum rolling into the next week.

The MOTM award could have realistically gone to anyone in the defense but with his commanding performance and marshaling of the defence Ricky O’Neill received the award, some might say overdue with his six goals in the past four matches. Next week poses a different challenge with South entertaining Armagh at the fortress where three points is a must if they hope to compete for top spot.