OLV-(1) V Portmarnock (4)

OLV starting XI ;
Dave Kelly,

Garreth Donovan,Martin Dunican,Anto(bart)Maher,Neil Ferry,

Gordon Farrell,James Coates,Mark Elliott,Philip Lowndes,Mark Matthews,

Noel Stapleton.

Substitutes;Anto Stanley,Willie Murphy,Alan Short,Ian Clifford,Jonny Dutton.

Manager John Lowndes.

OLV bowed out of the Grimes cup on Sunday following a 1-4 defeat at home to Portmarnock,although the score-line suggests different this was no walk on the beach for the visitors as from the kick-off OLV got stuck in and wouldn't let the opposition settle into their normal game.OLV manager Lowndes decided on a five man midfield that soon showed Portmarnock they would have to work a lot harder than they probably expected. The opening stages gave nothing away as to who would win this game but it was the home team who scored first when the ball was played out of defense up to Mark Matthews who passed forward to Noel Stapleton who put the centrehalf under enough pressure for him to totally leave his keeper in no-mans land and put his poor back pass into his own net. 1-0
The opening goal certainly rattled the northside team and they immediately went looking for an equalizer but great work from Kelly,Donovan,(bart)Maher,Dunican and Ferry kept them at bay but as the half ticked towards its last minutes disaster struck when Portmarnock attacked down the flank crossed in and after a bit of a scramble the ball was tucked over the line for the equalizer.1-1. After the goal OLV went back on the offensive and Portmarnock were definately rattled again as the centre mid trio of Coates,Lowndes and Elliott fearlessly thundered into tackles to win the ball and get it to wingers Matthews and Farrell who worked tirelessly on the flanks trying to feed the ball into Stapleton who ran his socks off in the lone striker role.The half finished out with both teams trying for a goal to give a midway advantage but nobody could break through.

Halftime 1-1

OLV made a few changes during the break with Short,Murphy and Stanley providing the fresh legs as the day got warmer and warmer and OLV wanted to stay fresh and give it their all in the second half and they started much brighter but as it has been a few times this season OLV shot themselves in the foot when a rash retaliation to a very poor Portmarnock defenders challenge left the referee with no option but to send an OLV midfielder for an early bath,initially being a man down didn't disrupt OLV too much as the whole team continued to bring the game to the impressive Portmarnock side,but the extra workload along with the stifling heat seemed to take its toll as Portmarnock scored two goals in a few minutes,OLV made more changes still but couldn't get a goal despite Ian Cliffords effort from just outside the box, the game was going from end to end now and with just a few minutes left Portmarnock scored a forth when a shot from the edge of the box deflected into the back of the net via an OLV defender.
Full-time 1-4

Although beaten everyone involved in the OLV camp can be proud of this performance against a very talented Portmarnock team who now go on and try to win this cup again.