Reports
Sat 21 Oct 2006 - Cup Match
Palmerstown Rgs 4 (K. Donegan, Eastment, Keegan, Holmes)
Swords Manor 0
Palmerstown Rgs Starting XI : Burke, Keegan, Corbett,
Angulin, Magee, Byrne, Doheney, Eastment, K. Donegan, Holmes, Nataro.
With the late news that Manager Martin Breen was missing Danny Quinn
took charge again and had a full squad to choose from for the 2nd Round
of the Elastoplast shield against Swords Manor, who had put out Palmerstown
Ath on penalties in the 1st round. For the 3rd game in a row the 10 out
field players remained unchanged with Burke keeping his place in goal
for the 2nd game in a row.
Swords were late arriving down to Mill Lane and stand in ref Tony Lawlor
was close to starting the game when they only had 7 players. Match eventually
kicked off @ 2,40pm and Rangers were on the front foot from the off. Corbett
and Keegan both got forward well in the first few mins and created a couple
of half chances with Nataro scuffing a shot into the keeper’s hands
being the best one.
Rangers took the lead 20 mins in when Keegan fed Nataro. He linked up
with Holmes and the ball eventually came to Donegan who tucked it away
in the bottom corner. After the goal Rangers took the foot off the pedal
for a while and Swords began to come into the game. They had a couple
of long range efforts but Burke wasn’t really threatened. Rangers
had 1 great chance when Holmes was put thru 1 on 1 with the keeper but
unbelievably he put the ball wide.
On the stoke of half time Rangers doubled the lead, A free kick from Jay
Keegan was headed home by Robbie Eastment, it was the wingers 2nd goal
in consecutive games. As soon as Swords tipped off the ref blew the whistle
for half time, a great time to score….
The half time team talk centred on how important the next goal in the
game was going to be. “Manager” Quinn knew that if Rangers
got it, the Swords players heads would go down and the win would be in
the bag.
Rangers started the 2nd half well and got the important 3rd goal thru
Keegan. It was a well deserved goal for the full back who had been one
of Rangers’ best attacking players all day. The goal came from a
swords corner which fell to Danny Doheney. He picked out a great run by
Nataro who in turn picked out Holmes. Holmes committed the keeper and
then found Keegan who had made an 80 yd dash to get up with play and he
tapped it into an empty net. The swords players were looking for offside
but as Keegan came from behind the play he could never be…
The 4th goal came soon after when Holmes scored a free kick from 30 yds,
this really was the icing on the cake. The last few mins of the game saw
Quinn introduce a few fringe players for some 1st team action and also
saw the return of Jay “Ice Pack” McGill from a long lay off
due to an ankle injury.
The game ended on a sour note though when the Swords Centre Half was sent
off for consistent dissent with 3 minutes left in the game. When he refused
to leave the surrounds of the pitch, the ref blew the final whistle and
brought an end to the game and Swords’ misery. Rangers marched on
to the last 16 of the competition and continued their 100% competitive
record for the season.