Match Report: Seaford Rock United 2-1 Sacred Heart Firhouse Clover
LSL Saturday Major 1
Seaford dug deep to come from behind and grab all three point after a brilliant second half display at Rockfield Park against promotion-chasing Sacred Heart.
The Penguins were winless in six league matches, in stark contrast to Heart, who started brightly and could well have been two goals to the good inside a quarter of an hour. First, James Sullivan pounced on a loose clearance and let go of a bouncing shot from 20 yards which clipped the post, and then the same man found himself through one-on-one with only Oisin Geoghegan to beat, but his miscued his attempted lob and missed the target.
Seaford's best opportunity of the half fell to Paul Tansey, who did brilliantly to force a mistake out of Craig Rothery, but failed to hit the target with the goal at his mercy after rounding keeper Darragh Dixon.
Otherwise it was the visitors who looked more likely to break the deadlock, with Lewis Cawley doing well to block Sullivan's effort following a Stephen O'Neill knock-down.
Sacred Heart made the breakthrough in the final minute of the half when Dylan Boxwell laid in David O'Keefe who slotted home expertly.
But after the opening period was dominated by the men in red, the second half was a different story, as Seaford managed to turn the tide and take control of the game following a change of shape. Nevertheless, the game had a very clear turning point of the match on 58 minutes
At one end, Geoghegan made a excellent stop to deny Sullivan with Thomas Kinnear pouncing on the rebound only to be denied by an outsanding Darragh Roche block. Moments later, it was all square as Cawley's brilliant curling cross was shinned home by Mike O'Neill.
Suddently the Penguins were in charge of the game and it was almost a very qucik turnaround when a crunching tackle from Cawley high up the pitch led to an opportunity for Stephen Canavan, but his powerful header of the bouncing ball was straight at Dixon.
The same pair almost combined again, when another inswiinger from Cawley just evaded Canavan's attempted header.
But Canavan maintained a constant threat throughout the second half and he wasn't to be denied on 83 minutes, beating the offside trap and meeting Al Kennedy, diagonal ball with a bullet header into the corner of the net.
Sacred Heart pushed forward in frantic search of a leveller but it was Seaford who went closes to adding to the scoring in added time as substitute David Higgins let go of a stunning left-footed strike from 25 yards that produced a breathtaking save from Dixon.
The win maintains Seaford's unbeaten home record for the campaign and moves them out of the relegation zone.
Seaford: Oisin Geoghegan , Darragh Roche, Fionn Geoghegan, , Al Kennedy, Ian Nolan, Sam Browne, Jim Nolan (Dan Kennedy, 71), Mike O'Neill (,David Higgins 88), Lewis Cawley (Jack Burke , 81) , Paul Tansey (Ryan Scollard, 78), Stephen Canavan (Dan O'Leary, 86),
Sacred Heart Firhouse Clover: Darragh Dixon, Peter Davis, Martin Doneghan, Adam Towers, Craig Rothery (Anto Murray, 35), Ultan Kennedy, Dylan Boxwell, Ger McNevin, David O'Keefe (Thomas Kinnear, 54), James Sullivan ((Max Goodwin, 83) , Stephen O'Neill (Jamie Hayes, 78)
Rockfield Park, 9 October 2021
The Penguins were winless in six league matches, in stark contrast to Heart, who started brightly and could well have been two goals to the good inside a quarter of an hour. First, James Sullivan pounced on a loose clearance and let go of a bouncing shot from 20 yards which clipped the post, and then the same man found himself through one-on-one with only Oisin Geoghegan to beat, but his miscued his attempted lob and missed the target.
Seaford's best opportunity of the half fell to Paul Tansey, who did brilliantly to force a mistake out of Craig Rothery, but failed to hit the target with the goal at his mercy after rounding keeper Darragh Dixon.
Otherwise it was the visitors who looked more likely to break the deadlock, with Lewis Cawley doing well to block Sullivan's effort following a Stephen O'Neill knock-down.
Sacred Heart made the breakthrough in the final minute of the half when Dylan Boxwell laid in David O'Keefe who slotted home expertly.
But after the opening period was dominated by the men in red, the second half was a different story, as Seaford managed to turn the tide and take control of the game following a change of shape. Nevertheless, the game had a very clear turning point of the match on 58 minutes
At one end, Geoghegan made a excellent stop to deny Sullivan with Thomas Kinnear pouncing on the rebound only to be denied by an outsanding Darragh Roche block. Moments later, it was all square as Cawley's brilliant curling cross was shinned home by Mike O'Neill.
Suddently the Penguins were in charge of the game and it was almost a very qucik turnaround when a crunching tackle from Cawley high up the pitch led to an opportunity for Stephen Canavan, but his powerful header of the bouncing ball was straight at Dixon.
The same pair almost combined again, when another inswiinger from Cawley just evaded Canavan's attempted header.
But Canavan maintained a constant threat throughout the second half and he wasn't to be denied on 83 minutes, beating the offside trap and meeting Al Kennedy, diagonal ball with a bullet header into the corner of the net.
Sacred Heart pushed forward in frantic search of a leveller but it was Seaford who went closes to adding to the scoring in added time as substitute David Higgins let go of a stunning left-footed strike from 25 yards that produced a breathtaking save from Dixon.
The win maintains Seaford's unbeaten home record for the campaign and moves them out of the relegation zone.
Seaford: Oisin Geoghegan , Darragh Roche, Fionn Geoghegan, , Al Kennedy, Ian Nolan, Sam Browne, Jim Nolan (Dan Kennedy, 71), Mike O'Neill (,David Higgins 88), Lewis Cawley (Jack Burke , 81) , Paul Tansey (Ryan Scollard, 78), Stephen Canavan (Dan O'Leary, 86),
Sacred Heart Firhouse Clover: Darragh Dixon, Peter Davis, Martin Doneghan, Adam Towers, Craig Rothery (Anto Murray, 35), Ultan Kennedy, Dylan Boxwell, Ger McNevin, David O'Keefe (Thomas Kinnear, 54), James Sullivan ((Max Goodwin, 83) , Stephen O'Neill (Jamie Hayes, 78)
Rockfield Park, 9 October 2021