Match Report: Malahide United 1-0 Seaford

Returning to action after an extraodinary spell of 71 days without a match , Seaford showed no signs of rustiness but fell just short against title-chasing Malahide.

The hosts had the first chance when dangerous winger Jack Combey collected a long ball from Dylan Meade, but after cutting inside his shot was deflected wide. After that, it was the Penguiins who made most of the running, their dynamic front cfour causing the hosts all sorts of problems. 

First,  Ryan Scollard found winger Fionn Nally, whose vicious cross just eluded  Jamie McCaul . Then, the magic man  Ian Daly found McCaul with a no-look pass, and again it was worked wide to Nally, who chopped inside but coudln't find the finish from a tight angle.

The best chance of all was in the final minute of the half, after skipper Al Kennedy released Nally with a quick free-kick. Nally did brilliantly to whip in a cross, with Scollard sliding in to volley home at the back post, but misjudged it by milimetres and missed the target from close-range.

The only goal of the game was early in the second half, through Combey who produced a lovely glancing header to finish Pierce Walsh's cross, after Seaford had briefly tuned out from a corker.

The Penguins fought back and almost leveled instantly as Sam Browne flicked on for Scollard, whose header clattered the crossbar.

The ball just woudln't go in for the visitors. Daly ran on to a punt forward from Oisin Geoghegan,  leaving a defender for dead as he worked it on to his trusty left foot, but keeper Brian Kane somehow managed to claw the ball away from the bottom corner.

Malahide had a couple of dangerous breaks as Seaford went for broke, but the action was ostly down the other end, the final chance of the game falling to Scollard in the 92 minute, as he met Kennedy's cross with a volley, but again it was just off-target.

The same sides meet again next week, in what will be Seaford's first home match since September.


Seaford: Oisin Geoghegan, Darragh Roche  Brian Murphy (Niall Holleran, 80), Sam Browne,  Craig Conlon, Al Kennedy, Rob O'Shea,  Fionn Nally Jamie McCaul (Conor Fennell, 68), Ian Daly,,  Ryan Scollard 

Malahide United: 1 Brian Kane, 2 Finlay McDiarmid,  3 Dylan Meade, 4 Aaron Maher, 5 Tim Doherty, 6 Sam McAllister, 7 Pierce Walsh, 8 Tim Kelly, 9 Jack Combey,  10 Harrison Maher 11 Alan O'Shaughnessy. Subs: 12 Henry Amoateng, 13 Mark Logan, 14 Adam McGrane, 15 Nathan Reilly, 16 Sam Reynolds, 17 Christian McDonnell, 18 Gavin Murphy