PENNINE LEAGUE SEMI- FINAL

A place in the Junior League semi-final was at stake when St Lawerence`s travelled to Old Bedians to take on Oisin. John Mitchells of Liverpool lay in wait for the victors and a quick look at the form guide certainly pointed to a close encounter, Oisin winning a championship game between the sides by only two points, just four weeks previously.

In a perfect evening for football both teams started with intent, each seeing unsuccessful attacks before the visitors opened the scoring by hitting Oisin on a counter attack. That score was amazingly to be St Lawerence`s last of the half, a half dominated by a hungry and hard working Oisin side. The imposing presence of Chris Moore in full forward was causing the St Lawerence`s rearguard plenty of problems and when he was impeded Nathan Simpson superbly equalized for the hosts with a placed ball. Then with the away defence struggling to clear their lines, under pressure from the Oisin forwards and Moore in particular, the defender touched the ball on the ground, Simpson scored the resulting free kick. Next up a superb catch from the dominant Paul Mackey was followed by a swift interchange between Tommy Hanvey and Jason Walker, with the latter taking his point well. The game at this stage was going according to plan for the hosts, with their forwards looking dangerous, defenders looking solid and the midfield pairing of Derry men Craig Norris and Paul Mackey competing very well. Simpson did well to assist Tommy Hanvey for his first score of the day, then Hanvey returned the favour with help from Moore and Walker to set up Simpson for the last point of the half.

Half Time Score- Oisin 0-06 to St Lawrence`s 0-01

The visitors needed to get off to a good start to the half to give themselves a chance of turning the tide and they almost got a goal early on, only to be denied by a fine Anthony O`Keefe save, however the ball was pointed before the defence could clear. Moore restored the hosts five point advantage by brilliantly flicking over a Simpson free kick with his fist. St Lawerence`s then launched a spirited comeback, aided by some questionable defensive work. A long high ball was misjudged by David Betney and his man had a clear run through on goal, he made no mistake, firing past O`Keefe. There was no further scoring for almost ten minutes, with Oisin seeing some wonderful build-up play being let down by poor finishing time after time. Paddy Campbell came on for Betney for what was his first appearance in a month, he looked sharp considering this. Ryan Kelly and Ryan Maguire also came on, replacing Hanvey and Simpson who suffered injuries. Maguire didn`t take long to get involved, and the impressive Gareth Shiells knocked over the free kick the Fermanagh man had won. With three points between the teams and only ten minutes remaining, the visitors certainly weren`t about to throw in the towel. Despite the hosts playing the more attractive football and having the lion`s share of possession St Lawerence`s were about to find an equalizing goal against the run of play. A high ball into the square was caught much too easily by a visiting forward and he managed to bundle the ball over the line. Oisin didn`t panic though and finished a fine move involving Ryan Kelly and Norris with a fine Shiells point. Kelly won and converted a late free to give the hosts some breathing room. They comfortably saw out the remaining few minutes to record a hard fought victory.

This was a very spirited and impressive performance by Oisin, let down only by two slack goals. The boys showed great character in closing the game out. With Mitchells awaiting in the semi final, Oisin may feel they will need to cut out defensive lapses and improve their finishing.