Westport United survive second-half scare

Westport survive after second-half scare


ROUND 4
Westport Utd       4
Corrib Rangers    3

Colin McDonagh
Westport

A GAME of two halves? You could say that. Westport United survived a stunning second-half comeback from Corrib Rangers on Sunday to secure their place in the fifth round of the Connacht Cup.
After an extremely one-sided first half, Westport led 4-0. Then Corrib burst into life in the second half and came agonisingly close to pulling off what would have been the comeback of all comebacks.
The game was only five minutes old when Westport took the lead after a thumping near-post header from Kevin Joyce from Dave Cameron’s corner kick. It was a fantastic start for the Covies and it went a long way towards settling early nerves.
Two minutes later, Westport doubled their advantage. A nice passing move led to a sublime through ball from David Hoban to set up Mark McNally, but he was held back inside the area by Rangers centre-half Kevin Fitzpatrick. Referee Michael McCay awarded Westport the penalty and Fitzpatrick received a yellow card. Hoban stepped up and sent goalkeeper Martin McDonagh the wrong way.
Westport’s next goal had a touch of good fortune about it – and an air of controversy too. Hoban’s cross-cum-shot deceived McDonagh in the Rangers goal and the ball ended up in the net. However, assistant referee Jimmy Cawley seemed to have spotted an infringement and disallowed the goal. Following consultation with referee McCay, Hoban’s goal was allowed to stand, and United were three to the good after only ten minutes of play.
Corrib were obviously rattled by Westport’s dream start and took a while to settle. But the home side had Danny Scahill to thank for a last-ditch tackle which denied Simon Walsh as he was bearing down on the United goal.
Westport added a fourth after 21 minutes as Hoban completed his hat-trick, his low drive finding the bottom corner of McDonagh’s net. On any other day, you would have said ‘game over’. But as half time approached, nobody quite knew what lay in store.
Corrib started the second half much better than they had the first. The fightback started when Ryan O’Connell’s long ball from the back found former United player John O’Brien in space down the flank. His cross picked out Noel McDonagh, who made no mistake as he fired past Niall Gallagher.
Westport had taken the foot off the pedal, but were still a threat. Youngster Liam Staunton fed Cameron, but his shot was straight at McDonagh. Corrib were posing a threat of their own, however, and managed to pull another goal back after Jason Smith’s snapshot from the edge of the area found the bottom corner. It was now ‘game on’ again as Rangers believed they were still in with a shout.
Westport were under pressure as Corrib pushed for a third. United had to deal with corner after corner, and only a fine interception from Gallagher denied the Galway side a third goal. That third did arrive five minutes from time, as Noel McDonagh found himself onside and calmly placed the ball past the Westport goalkeeper. All of a sudden it was 4-3.
Corrib threw everything but the kitchen sink at United in the closing stages, and almost fashioned a dramatic equaliser from Simon Walsh’s long-range strike. But it wasn’t to be for Rangers, as Westport withstood the pressure and held on to advance to round five.

Westport United
N Gallagher, C Keane, J Lawless, M Geraghty, D Mulchrone, D Scahill, D Cameron, K Joyce, T McGing, M McNally, D Hoban.
Subs used: N Quinn for McGing; L Staunton for Hoban.

Corrib Rangers
M McDonagh, R O’Connell, J O’Connor, K Fitzpatrick, G Murray, S Walsh, J O’Brien, J Smith, B O’Halloran, N McDonagh, O Raftery.
Sub used: M O’Connor for Murray.

Referee: M McCay