Tumilty's injury hit side ease past Raphoe

Bann 5

BANN continued their winning streak on Saturday with a comfortable 5-1 victory over Ulster Premier League strugglers Raphoe.

Already without Chris Boyce and Stephen Dowds, the locals had another injury blow on Saturday morning as defender Drew Carlisle withdrew from the squad due to a shoulder problem.

Bann entered the game knowing that three points were vital in this three way chase for the Ulster title as both Cookstown and Annadale had similarly winnable games.

On a beautiful sunny day in Donegal, Bann started the game lively dominating possession on a very slow and sticky surface. The Bann forwards worked hard in an effort to create room in the opposition circle as the home side were content to soak up pressure and try to counter attack.

After a few narrow misses Bann took the lead inside 15 minutes as a swift passing move involving Bruce McCandless, Colin Dowds and Ross McCandless, finally ending with Simon Magowan to simply tap in at the back post.

This seemed to galvanise Raphoe and the home side hit back almost immediately, albeit a massive blunder from sweeper Scott McCandless as he lost possession inside his own circle and Raphoe finished neatly leaving Lennox with no chance.

Bann had to start again and Simon Magowan was the main threat as he and Phillip Brown combined well down the right hand side. This combination lead to a number of short corners and resulting in the controversial moment of the first half. Bann, through a Stephen Forbes rebound, had thought they’d regained the adavantage but the umpire deemed that the ball hadn’t been stop outside the circle during the short corner.

Half time arrived with Bann being held but immediately Bann raised their tempo and it wasn’t long before Coiln Dowds put the locals in front again following great work from the gleaming Magowan.

Controversy continued as Bann had another goal disallowed as Dane Ward finished from close range but an earlier infringement ruined the celebrations.

However Bann weren’t going to be denied, and again Ross McCandless answered the call as he torpedoed a flick into the bottom left corner to the great delight of the travelling support.

Bann were now in full flow and Dermy Reay was enjoying a lot of possession, the Ulster Senior player’s mazy run and pass set up Dane Ward whose shot seemed to have been taken off the line illegally by the covering defenders body but the visitors calls fell on deaf ears as their appeals were waved away.

Ulster’s top goalscorer then collected his 37th goal of a prolific season when he roofed another corner in the 53rd minute to give Bann a 4-1 lead. In recent weeks Niall Kelly performances have been catching the eye and again he was at the heart of a lot the good link up play between the front six and it was he who set up in-form forward Dane Ward to reverse number five for his ninth goal of the season.

Raphoe to their credit came back and almost sneaked a consolation when Hugh McShane brilliantly picked off a shot heading for the bottom corner. Bann finished the game in keep ball mode as they were content with the performance in a venue were a lot of sides have struggled this term.

The first XI would like to thank the travelling support that made the long journey to Donegal, it was very much appreciated.

Bann team: Lennox, Sc Forbes, St Forbes, S McCandless, P Brown, B McCandless, R McCandless, D Reay, N Kelly, C Dowds, J Moffett. Subs: H McShane, D.Ward, S Magowan, C McKnight.