This article is from page 71 of the 2009-03-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 71 JPG
BUNRATTY were staring into some- thing of an abyss midway through the first half of this south east Clare derby in Bridgetown.
They were 2-0 down against the home side, getting anything from the game, let alone three precious points in their title charge simply didn’t look on against a well-organised Bridge Celtic defence.
However, in adversity Bunratty re- ally rolled up their sleeves and from a desperate situation turned things around dramatically over the last 60 minutes to run out convincing win- iol as
It was no wonder manager Donal Magee had a smile as broad as the River Shannon at the end of a roll- er coaster of a 90 minutes that now leaves the league leaders in full con- trol of their own league destiny.
It had looked bleak earlier on when goals by Kieran Aherne from the penalty stop in the 20th minute and
then a second five minutes later from Nickey O’Connell had Bridge Celtic firmly in the ascendency.
O’Connell’s goal came _ despite howls of protestations from the Bun- ratty defence – he beat the offside trap and in one-on-one match up with Darren Whelan slotted the ball home from ten yards.
It looked bleak for Bunratty but in the 35th minute they were thrown a lifeline when Trevor Howard was ad- judged to have handled in the area, allowing Terry Duggan step up and drive home the penalty.
Then five minutes before half-time, Bridge Cetlic keeper Sean Fleming failed to deal with Peter Balough’s cross and Shane O’Connor nipped in to slot home the equaliser from close range.
Bunratty were back in the ball game with a bang and on the turnover pro- ceeded to take a giant step towards league glory when banging home two crucial goals.
The impressive Terry Duggan struk
15 minutes in when it was his turn to beat the offside trap and slot the ball past Sean Fleming.
Ten minutes later Peter Balough completed Bunratty’s wonderful recovery and wrapped up the three points at the same time when curling a free kick from outside the area into the top left hand corner.