Drumkeen United have won promotion into Division 1 after their win over Kerrykeel at St Patrick’s Park yesterday.
Drumkeen United 2 Kerrykeel ’71 F.C 0
The home team started well and could have taken an early lead but they found visiting keeper Shane Sandilands in good form as he denied Lee Guthrie a couple of times in the first ten minutes.
The game in the first half was played almost entirely in the Kerrykeel half of the pitch. On one of the rare occasions they got out Kerrykeel were awarded a free kick on the half way line which was taken by Fergal Friel and went just over the Drumkeen crossbar.
They also had a free kick which went well over the bar late in the first half. After several attempts the home team finally did put the ball in the Kerrykeel net after 22 minutes.
A great pass from Benny Bonner was aimed at Lee Guthrie who appeared to have been fouled but it worked out ok as the ball then fell to Michael Guthrie who was left with a simple tap in to open the scoring.
They could have added a second on the half hour mark when a foul on Lee Guthrie resulted in a penalty. Guthrie himself stepped up to take the penalty which was saved by keeper Sandilands.
Drumkeen did get their second goal a little later when Aaron Doherty ran at the Kerrykeel defence before unleashing a great shot giving keeper Sandilands no chance as it ended up in the bottom left hand corner.
The home team led by 2 goals to 0 at the break.
On the evidence of the first half you would have thought there were a few more goals in this for Drumkeen, but it didn’t quite work out like that as Kerrykeel came more into the game in the second half.
Lee Guthrie had to go off injured early in the second half and his replacement Kevin Bonner had a couple of efforts saved by the visiting keeper.
The visitors could have pulled a goal back midway through the second half but Drumkeen keeper Paul McCauley made a good save with his feet to deny Matthew Stewart and preserve the two-goal lead.
For the last quarter Drumkeen kept trying for a third goal but Kerrykeel defended well to keep them at bay while Kerrykeel themselves got forward a few times without unduly troubling the home Keeper.
This will not go down as a classic but nonetheless it was a good enough way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon.
