Johnstown 1 – Athboy Celtic 1

A late equaliser for Athboy Celtic left Johnstown deflated after a game in which they had controlled possession for the majority of this O’Neills Sportswear Division 1 encounter on Sunday morning.

The opening spell saw Johnstown giving a near master class in retaining possession with their crisp accurate passing, leaving the visitors chasing play all over the park. However, despite seeing most of the ball, Johnstown could not create any clear sights of goal.

In fact their first opportunity came from a direct free kick just outside the area. Lee Fahy hit a shot curling into the bottom corner until the firm hand of the visiting keeper turned it wide.

As the half went on, Athboy grew into the game but were largely restricted to hitting their hosts on the break. Indeed twice late on Stephen Mangan was called on to make sure the half remained scoreless. The first of these happened as Athboy shot directly at him but his second intervention came as he reacted quickly, coming of his line and gathering the ball at the feet of an onrushing forward sending the game into the interval at 0-0.

Shortly after the restart, Arnie Luco and Wayne Cahill played a neat 1-2 on the edge of the Athboy area. The tall Johnstown striker strode into the area. With the angle closing on him all the time, Luco fired his shot wide of the far post when a simple square ball to the better placed and unmarked Fahy would have unlocked the defence.

Less than 2 minutes later, Johnstown had a strong penalty appeal waved away. Wayne Cahill, an early replacement for the unfortunate Adam Ivers, ran directly at the defence. As he entered the box, 2 defenders converged on Cahill simultaneously taking him out on either side. Despite the load shouts the referee waved play on.

Johnstown’s reward came just on the hour mark. Athboy Celtic, on a rare sojourn upfield, earned a corner. Jay Connolly emerged from the Johnstown area with the ball at his feet. He picked out Lee Fahy who raced the length of the field. Spotting the excellent supporting run of Wayne Cahill, Fahy played his teammate in, where Cahill finished comfortably, giving his side the lead their play deserved.

With 13 minutes left on the clock, Cahill had the opportunity to clinch the game for his side as he bore down on goal. Rather than picking out either Luco or Fahy, both unmarked in the centre of goal, Cahill fired his shot across the face of goal and wide.

For the final 10 minutes, Johnstown dropped further and further back surrendering a number of chances to Athboy. Some poor finishing combined with some good goalkeeping perserved Johnstown’s lead but it was not to last.

In the final minute, following another defensive clearance, Athboy pumped the ball back upfield. An excellent first touch and instinctive shot on the turn from just outside the box thundered into the bottom corner of Mangan’s net leaving the sides to share the spoils.

Johnstown FC Team: K. Mangan, J. Colton, J. Connolly, D. McQuillan (c), J. McDermott, A. Ivers, S. Conroy, C. Murphy, S. Challenger, L. Fahy, A. Luco

Subs: W. Cahill for Ivers, D. Grumley for Murphy, .