Downpatrick suffer heartache in the Border Cup Final, click on the link below to read match report by Charlie McStay….
Ards Rangers 3
Downpatrick FC 1
Border Cup final
IT was all doom and gloom for Downpatrick at a bitterly cold Seaview
on Saturday when their cup final jinx struck again.
This latest defeat to Ards Rangers now makes it six cup final defeats
in a row, but it all could and should have been so different. There is no doubt that Downpatrick saw much more of the ball and created an awful lot more chances, but it’s goals that win games.
Both sides started rather timidly and tentatively with more than a few
players suffering from big match nerves. As a result, the first 20
minutes were a bit of a non-event with nothing more than a bot of
huffing and puffing on show. The first real chance fell to Ards Rangers in the 22nd minute. Blaine Connolly slipped in possession and Ryan Newberry took full advantage as he stormed into the box and let fly, but Michael McKenna saved the day with a good block.
Two minutes later at the other end Andrew Telford had a volley cleared
from the box as the game suddenly sprung into life. Both sides struggled, however, to play a possession game and play was hurried and broken before fate dealt Downpatrick a bad blow. The game was 33 minutes in and still not a lot to enthuse about when Newberry, a gifted playmaker, drifted from his wide right spot to an outside left position. He had a few options open to him, but fired a dipping cross into the six yard box for Ricky Rutherford. Mark Holland was first to the ball, but his attempted clearance sliced off his boot and flew into the bottom corner of the net.
Downpatrick responded magnificently, but it was the old style route
one ploy that gave them the equaliser two minutes later. A long clearance from McKenna glanced of Jamie Patterson’s head and Andy Telford was on to the loose ball in a flash before beating David
Ferguson all ends up with a clinical finish. A minute later Ferguson just beat Eoin Boyle to an Andy Telford through ball as Downpatrick went for the jugular and with 41 minutes gone Andy Baggley shot tamely at the Ards ‘keeper.
It was all Downpatrick now and a minute later Gary Brown cynically
chopped Andy Telford down as he broke though in a last man tackle.
Everyone at Seaview waited for referee Trevor Moutray to show the red card, but the match official felt that Jamie Patterson was close
enough to his team-mate and flashed a yellow card instead. Just before the break Barry Treacy fired a free kick into the Ards box and Holland beat everyone to it for a free header, but he headed wide.
Downpatrick were to pay for these misses seven minutes into the second half when man of the match Newberry played the ball out wide left to Glen Upton. The former Lisburn Distillery player spotted McKenna off his line and simply lobbed the ball in the direction of the back post
where Tony Tumelty, who might have been offside, headed in from less than yard out. Downpatrick had it all to do again, but they weren’t found wanting.
With 63 minutes gone Andy Telford shot wide from a good position
before Gary Brown picked up a second yellow and red for a foul on
Treacy as Ards went down to 10 men. With 65 minutes gone Aaron McGarry threaded a lovely ball into Peter Telford, Downpatrick’s best player on the day, but the unpredictable bounce of the ball meant that he blasted over from a few yards out.
Ards Rangers didn’t have that sort of problem in front of goal and a
minute later Newberry carved out an opening for Upton and he passed
the ball to the back of the net to make it 3-1. Fair play to Downpatrick, they never gave up the ghost, but they were fighting losing battle as a resilient Ards back four gave nothing away. Efforts from Chris Mullan twice, Baggley twice and Gerard Collins failed to bother Ferguson as Ards held on for their first Border triumph since 1979.
Ards Rangers: D. Ferguson, J. Roy, M. Roy, G. Brown, J. Patterson, S. Hislop, T. Tumelty, R. Newberry, R. Rutherford, G. Upton, S. Moffat.
Subs: C. James, M. Drysdale, A. Reid.
Downpatrick FC: M. McKenna, T. Bell, B. Connolly, M. Holland, M.
Curran, A. Baggley, B. Treacy, P. Telford, E. Boyle, A. Telford, A.
McGarry. Subs: G. Collins, C. Mullan, N. Walsh.
