Trim Celtic edge Kentstown
Trim Celtic took another tentative step towards the summit of the North East Football Premier League tonight when they took the points with a 2-0 win after a competitive joust with Meath rivals Kentstown Rovers who remain anchored in the drop zone.
Trim Celtic manager Paddy O'Reilly may have been wondering why it required a 91st minute own goal (see video clip) to get a second score on the board as his team owned the ball for most of the preceding 90 minutes, but had waited until early in the second-half to break the deadlock.
Kentstown's busiest man was goalkeeper Eoin O'Connell who had a good outing as had the back four of Derek Ratcliffe (injured 38 minutes), Shane Gargan, Dylan Doyle and Aaron Ryan.
By coincidence, Kentstown's Aaron Ryan spent most of the game trying to curtail Trim Celtic's Aaron Ryan, but it was a difficult task and the Kentstown version was probably fortunate to escape a second yellow card for a subtle piece of defending with about 15 minutes remaining.
Brian Faulkner got the opener for Trim after Colm Carney made the opening, it was one of many that the Trim number nine created. Trim Celtic also tested the quality of the woodwork (actually it's metal) at each end over the 90 minutes.
However, if they hope to launch a serious bid for honours they will have to start finishing more chances.
For Kentstown, they showed enough to suggest that they will be able to stay in the grade and a win or two will get them mororing in the right direction.
PREMIER P W D L F A Pts
Newfoundwell 11 7 2 2 26 13 23
Abbey Celtic 11 7 2 2 20 13 23
Navan Cosmos 9 6 2 1 23 7 20
Trim Celtic 10 5 2 3 17 11 17
Boyne Harps 11 3 4 4 11 12 13
Rock Celtic 8 4 0 4 14 14 12
Woodview Celtic 10 3 2 5 12 15 11
Kingscourt Harps 13 2 4 7 12 25 10
Bellurgan Utd 8 2 3 3 11 12 9
Kentstown 7 1 3 3 6 12 6
Dromin Utd 10 1 2 7 9 27 5