Our Lady Of Victory over 35s (Proudly sponsored by SUBZERO engineering) : Balrothery Fc 1 OLV35S 2 (M.FITZSIMONS(p), E.Fitzpatrick)

Perfectly executed penalty

Right place right time for his goal

By Dermot Clarke.

A sunny Sunday morning if a little warm in the place known as "The Bog"Balrothery hosted Olv35s in the excellent Ring Common sports facility.
It was evident that the heat would play a big part and both sides requested a water break before the start.
The hosts were on the front foot early without managing to create a decent scoring opportunity and around the quarter hour mark the visitors from Ballyfermot began to settle into the game. On 22 minutes OLV were awarded a penalty when Bob Hannon was bundled over and Mark Fitzsimons stepped up and dispatched the spot kick into the bottom left corner of the goal.
They almost doubled their lead on 32 minutes when Fitzsimons stole in behind the home rear-guard but he fired wide as the side-line appealed for offside.
Two minutes later the same player was denied by keeper Grimes, the squandered opportunities came back to bite the visitors when Balrothery levelled matters on 36 minutes.
From a Paul Rock corner on the left ,Robert Cardiff rose to power a header into the top corner that gave Stuart Parker no chance.
Four minutes later and the Ballyer men were back in front when a scramble in the six-yard box following a Hannon corner ended with Emmet Fitzpatrick poking home from close range.
Fitzsimons just failed to get a touch on a Keith Derwin cross from the right and just on the whistle Jonny Dutton's delightful chip had Grimes beaten but it came down off the crossbar and was cleared off the line.
The home side pressed for an equaliser as the second half started. On 51 minutes after some good approach play Sheridan saw his goal bound effort blocked.
On 58 minutes Fitzpatrick set Hannon free and he raced into the box and lifted the ball over Grimes only to see it drift agonisingly wide of the left hand post.
OLV were under the cosh for a while but were dangerous on the break and they were creating chances.

Their solid rearguard restricted Balrothery to long distance efforts in the main.
With 17 minutes remaining OLV almost wrapped matters up when Derwin sent Fitzsimons free down the left, he cut inside and unleashed a curling effort that looked headed for the far corner but somehow Grimes got a hand to it and pushed it round the post. With 12 minutes remaining Brendan Mooney brought out the best in Stuart Parker after Steve Thompson had set him up as the home sideline roared on Balrothery in their quest for an equaliser.
That leveller just wouldn't come as OLV hung on for the points in the end.
I say hung on but over the 90 minutes they were far the better team and deserved to win and claim all 3 points.