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1-Oct-2002
County Get First Ever Eircom League Win
Kildare County finally got their first ever Eircom League win with a hard fought 1-0 victory over Sligo Rovers. A 15th minute Ray Scully goal was enough to secure the three points for the Thoroughbreds.
County were made to work hard for their victory and had to endure some very nervy moments towards the end but they were able to hold to a victory that lifts them off the bottom. Scully, who was only playing because of an injury to Shay Zeller, scored the winner in the 15th minute, when he made a great run from deep before latching onto a through ball from Cathal O'Connor before firing into the bottom corner.
In the first half County played some really nice football and had Sligo on the back foot for long periods. Despite this the first chance of the game fell to Sligo when Ben Whelehan was caught in possession by Aubrey Dolan, Kildare looked in as Dolan powered on but just as it looked that he would shoot He chose to pass to Rafeal Cretaro who was offside and the chance was lost.
Cathal O'Connor had one good effort fly just wide before Scully used his blistering pace to latch onto O'Connor's through ball before excellently finishing. County almost got an immediate second through an unlikely source when Damian Brennan snuck in behind the defence to get his head to a Cathal O'Connor free kick, but he could only head into the side netting. County should have got a second in the 20th minute when John Ryan ran through with just the keeper to beat but he rushed his shot and screwed off his foot to go wide.
At this stage of the game County were playing nice football but they needed a second goal to kill off Sligo. Just before half time Gareth Gorman almost caught Danny O'Leary out when he took a free kick from out on the right and when everybody was expecting a cross, Gorman whipped in a shot that O'Leary did really well to tip over.
County came out in the second half looking very nervous, the slick passing football that they were playing in the first half was gone to be replaced by long hopeful clearances as the team played very deep. Sligo's fast and skilful strikers McTiernan and Cretaro were causing Kildare some problems and Sligo went close to an equaliser in the 51st minute when Gavin Dykes fouled McTiernan right on the edge of the box. As Danny O'Leary went to set up his wall, Gorman took a quick free kick that shaved the outside of the post as O'Leary scrambled across his goal mouth.
Sligo, despite having most of the possession in the early second half, were unable to make any clear cut chances as County's defence looked very solid. County looked like a team who desperate to hold onto their, which was understandable considering they hadn't won since the 10th of August. They almost sealed the game, when following a Damian Brennan throw, Cathal O'Connor struck a beautiful left footed volley which unfortunately struck the post. O'Connor has been getting forward more often in recent games and at the moment anything that drops around the edge of the box he looks capable of scoring from.
From that moment on County sat back and defended well, a Damian Maher block tackle on Steve Gavin when the Sligo man looked in on goal was particularly good. County almost snatched a second in the final minute when Sligo goalkeeper Ciaran Kelly came up for a corner and in a quick break Philip Gorman was almost able to get through on the goal but Rossiter was able to get back to block him.
County manager Dermot Keely was delighted with the gritty performance of his team and the result "It is great to get the win, it has been a long time coming. The main thing is now that we are off the bottom and we can start to try to put a run together like we had at the start of the season."
Kildare County: O'Leary, Brennan, O'Callaghan, Maher, Dykes, Whelehan, Scully, C O'Connor, Ryan (McCann 61), K O'Connor (Gorman 80), Kelly (Dunne 85).Subs not used: Murphy, Rogers.
Sligo Rovers: Kelly, Rossiter, O'Donaghue, Hutchison, O'Dwyer, Feeney (Watson 74), Gavin, Dolan, Cretaro(Rogers 80), McTiernan, Gorman(McLoughlin 74). Subs not used: Gaffney, Healy.
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