Two league points for Sigersons
June 11, 2013Strabane Sigersons 2-05
Rock St Patrick's 0-08
Strabane Sigersons made the trip to Rock on Sunday afternoon and came away with both league points in an entertaining and tense game of football to move them into second in the league. It was a day that also seen Strabane give debuts to Sean McNulty, Stefan Deery and Haydn McNamee. Strabane started the brighter of the sides and quickly established a three point lead. The first score of the day came from the trusty boot of John McLaughlin when he slotted over a free kick. Sean McNulty who was making his debut then added a point from play after good link up play with Marc Devine. Warner Mullan extended Sigersons lead with another point from play. In the opening stages of the first half the Strabane inside forward line were causing Rock all sorts of problems but Rock began to settle into the game as the half progressed. Rock hit a purple patch where they scored five unanswered points, 3 coming from play, one from a free and one sent over from a side line ball. During this period Strabane seen a John McLaughlin effort rattle the crossbar but they didn't have to wait long to see the Strabane marksman find the net. With McLaughlin finding himself some space Warner Mullen sent in a long ball to find the attacked who coolly dispatched the ball past the Rock keeper. The goal gave the Sigersons men the advantage going in at half time as they led 1-3 to 0-5 at the break.
The start of the second half saw both teams trade possession as the encounter became tenser and it took over 15 minutes for the first score of the half to be recorded and it was to come from play for Rock. With the teams levels both had chances to take the lead but they couldn't capitalise with Marc Devine being denied a goal by a great save from the Rock net minder. The Rock keeper however had no chance when Mullen and McLaughlin combined again, resulting in McLaughlin firing the ball to the back of the net for his second of the day. The Strabane pairing of Gerard McCrossan and Martin Morgan in the middle helped Sigersons maintain their advantage by limiting the ball available to Rocks attackers and some solid defending was forcing Rock into trying to score from distance. Rock did find a score from play but this was quickly cancelled out by a Warner Mullen point to maintain the three point lead. With just over 5 minutes to go Rock scored from a free to set a tight end to the game but the Sigersons men were not to be denied and in the closing stages of the game John McLaughin slotted over from a free to bring his tally for the day to 2-2. Strabane showed grit and determination throughout the game to overcome an experienced Rock team and now sit just one point adrift of the league leaders.
Strabane team and scorers
James O'Reilly, Luke McGeehan, Ryan McElroy, Malcolm McCool, Shay Doherty, Martin McNulty, JP Gallagher, Martin Mongan, Gerard McCrossan, Peter O'Connell, Warner Mullen (0-2), Paddy Roarty, Sean McNulty (0-1), John McLaughlin (2-2), Marc Devine. Subs used Ryan O'Kane for Malcolm McCool, Stefan Deery for Peter O'Connell, Haydn McNamee for Sean McNulty and Arán McGowan for Paddy Roarty. Tweet
