Dundalk 0 - 2 Sporting Fingal

• Emmet Maloney
• Fri, Oct 22 2010


Sporting ran out 2-0 winners at Oriel Park and on the balance of play just about deserved their three points. The opener came from the returning Shaun Williams on 32 minutes and Ronan Finn scored the decider on 55 minutes as he got on the end of a Gary O’Neill lay back and thrashed home emphatically from the edge of the box.

Dundalk opened brightly and might have sneaked ahead in the ninth minute as a Gaynor cross into the box was inches ahead of Tom Miller and Simon Madden was unable to follow up behind him. Ex Lilywhite Shaun Williams opened the scoring in the 32nd minute as he found the net against his old team mates for the third time this season. A Ronan Finn long range effort was turned away for a corner by Peter Cherrie, the resultant corner was driven to the far post by Conan Byrne, Glen Crowe had shed the attentions of Dean Bennett and headed back across goal for Shaun Williams to half volley home from eight yards.

Dundalk had chances during the first half to open their account and were inches away with efforts by Tipton & Kudozovic , sadly for them the killer final ball wasn’t quite there. It summed things up for them when in the 45th minute Dean Bennett won a block tackle on the edge of the box and picked up the ball but instead of shooting at the exposed Clarke in the Sporting goal he crossed and the chance was lost.

The second half got very bad very quickly for the Lilywhites as first Finn extended their lead on 55 minutes after a lay back from Gary O’Neill and then three minutes later Gaynor was shown a straight red for a late challenge on Conan Byrne. I’m sure that Ross will admit to being late but a straight red looked very harsh.

Ten minutes later Derek Tomney evened things up by sending Ger O’Brien off. He tangled with Stephen Maher after a free was given against him and again may have cause for argument with Mr Tomneys decision.

The ref had a busy evening showing five yellow cards and two straight reds in a game that most people will agree that didn’t have a truly dirty tackle in it. The second half played out to its inevitable conclusion but the spectacle had been spoiled.

Sporting will face UCD in the last match trying to overhaul Sligo Rovers. Dundalk complete their season at Dalymount as they try to influence the location of the title.

Dundalk: Peter Cherrie; Simon Madden, Liam Burns, Wayne Hatswell, Nathan Murphy (Steven Lennon 58); Stephen Maher, Dean Bennett, Tom Miller, Ross Gaynor; Fahrudin Kudozovic, Matthew Tipton.
Subs not used: Paul Murphy, Ciaran McGuigan, Stephen McDonnell, Johnny Breen/>

Sporting Fingal: Brendan Clarke; Ger O’Brien, Lorcan Fitzgerald, Colin Hawkins, Kenny Browne; Conan Byrne, Ronan Finn, Shaun Williams, Shane McFaul; Gary O’Neill, Glen Crowe (Keith Quinn 73).
Subs not used: Darren Quigley, Brian Gannon, Alan Kirby, Eamon Zayed

extratime.ie Man of the Match:Ronan Finn. Lovely goal great midfield play.

Referee: Derek Tomney

Attendance: 1350.