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Cruel home defeat for local side after epic penalty shoot-out

Thursday, 12 January 2012

Brian Kelly, Strabane and Sion Swifts United, lobs a ball over the defence as Martin Lavery closes in during their 10-11 penalty shoot-out defeat to AFC Craigavon in the Intermediate Cup third round on Saturday following a 1-1 draw after extra-time.

SSSU 1, AFC Craigavon 1(AET) (Craigavon win 10-11 on penalties). STRABANE and Sion Swifts United (SSSU) suffered a cruel home defeat in the third round of the Intermediate Cup on Saturday, losing 10-11 on penalties to AFC Craigavon at Melvin after an epic shoot-out, following a 1-1 draw after extra-time.
Conor Carlin, who had already scored two penalties, proved to be the unfortunate SSSU player to miss a spot-kick as the 24th penalty of the shoot-out was saved by visiting keeper, Mark Geoghegan.
“I have never been involved in a penalty shoot-out that went on as long as that," said SSSU boss, Brendan McColgan. "But we didn't play as well as we have been playing, we didn't impose ourselves on the match as you should when you are at home."
The excitement of the penalty shoot-out was in direct contrast to what was a fairly insipid encounter. Despite being heavily depleted, SSSU began brightly with Robert Tinney and Brian Kelly both going close in the opening 10 minutes, while Aaron Gillespie forced the visiting keeper, Geoghegan, into a smart save a short time later.
Craigavon came more into the match after that, with Dean Arnold saving well, following some concerted pressure from the visitors.
Responded well
The home side responded well with Gillespie again being denied by Geoghegan, while Kevin Gallagher missed a proverbial 'sitter' - firing over from four yards.
Craigavon could have taken the lead seven minutes before the interval after Arnold was caught in no man's land when making a clearance, but the keeper recovered to stop Shaun Croak's effort.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 41st minute when Conor Carlin was felled in the area by Michael Cassidy, and the SSSU striker made no mistake from the spot.
However, the home side's lead was not to last long, as Aidy O'Connor swept home the equaliser after Arnold failed to hold onto Croak's initial shot.
The second half and extra-time were fairly forgettable, with neither team able to grab an all- important second goal, although SSSU should have finished the game before extra-time began. Carlin thought he had scored the winner three minutes before time, but Geoghegan made a stunning top corner save to keep out his flicked header, and Jason McCrory was disappointed to miss a glorious chance at the death.
Those missed opportunities left the teams to embark on their epic shoot-out battle, which required a total of 24 spot-kicks to find a winner.
The teams were level at four apiece after the first five penalties and in sudden death, a further seven spot kicks each were required. But, with the game delicately poised at 10-11, the defining moment of the match arrived with Geoghegan making the pivotal save to deny Carlin to send Craigavon through to round four.

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