Match Report: Home Farm 1-1 Seaford

Seaford began the new Major 1 season with a hard-fought draw against a young and talented Home Farm side.

The visitors made a bright start, with skipper Al Kennedy firing just wide inside the first 60 seconds but Farm had scintillating pace on the break and quickly started troubling the more mature Penguins backline. In the space of sixty seconds Earlston Nyantakyi burst infield from the left wing, and Sean Fagan from the right, but on each occasion Seaford's teenage stopper   Fionn McLoughlin flew off his line to make an impressive save.

On 19 minutes, McLoughlin could only watch as Bobby McCarthy's ferocious strike rattled the angle of post and bar, but the visitors rallied late in the half and thought they'd hit the front when Jamie McCaul ran on to a Jack Keegan pass and buried it, but the Louth man was denied a goal on his 100th Seaford appearance by the linesman's flag.

Seaford were the better side in the early stages of the second half, and gradually turned the screw. Talisman Ian Daly worked a yard near the edge of his box, and if Alan Hussey's initial save was unconvincing, he did much better the second time of asking, blocking brilliantly as Richie Mulholland charged in to finish from three yards out. 

That proved a turning point in the match as moments later, Farm led though Ratson Takudzwa Dube who made no mistake after being put through by Fagan.

The Penguins were up against it now, especially given the hosts' extraordinary speed on transitions, but they quickly regained their footing in the match. Mulholland did brilliantly to burst down the right wing and square to find Keegan, whose left-footed strike was mere inches wide.

Seaford's subs made a big impact, and no surprise that was one of them - the irrepressible MJ Tierney who made the crucial intervention, with a pinpoint delivery from a wide free-kick that Mulholland met with a towering header to equalise.

Suddenly it was anyone's game. Ben Kelly almost bagged a wondergoal, evading two defenders with fancy footwork before Hussey managed to block his shot, while at the other end Fagan twice saw low crosses flash across the face of goal.

All square at the final whistle. Seaford host Tolka Rovers next.


Seaford: Fionn McLoughlin, Darragh Roche (Sean Cox, 48), Craig Conlon (MJ Tierney, 68), Eoin Mahon, Sam Browne (Ben Kelly, 74), Jack Keegan, Al Kennedy, Richie Mulholland, Rory Carberry, Ian Daly (Shane Downes, 68), Jamie McCaul

Home Farm: 1 Alan Hussey 2 Kevin Rio Calvo 3 Bobby McCarthy 4 Bradley Peers 5 Obi 6 Cillian Gibney 7 Sean Fagan 8 Ralph Benoit 9 Earlston Nyantakyi 10 Ratson Takudzwa Dube 11 Khamran Matti. Subs: 12 Zach Brady, 13 Daniel Grinbergs 14 Natan Beben 15 Nathaniel Kenny 16 Liam Iaccarino 17 Jesse Nwokoro 18 Daniel Holton