Istanbul anyone? Not even close to what we witnessed today in Ridgewood Park. After a cagey first 15 minutes where we dominated possession without any real threat, Howth went 1 up from a corner we failed to deal with. More long spells of possession followed in the next half hour but we just couldn’t find the breakthrough.
After the break, Ste Leahy fed Keith Martin who pulled a fantastic one-handed save out of the Howth keeper, however Howth quickly doubled their led after a mix up at the back. A dubious offside goal gave the visitors their third with 20 minutes remaining and all seemed lost as we pressed and pressed, hitting the bar and going close on a couple of occasions.
With 89 minutes on the watch their keeper spilled a shot which Glynn Higgins and Ian O’Carolan pounced on with the later getting the decisive touch to pull back what for all intense and purposes was a consolation. But, straight from their tip we broke down the wing, whipped the ball over for IOC to get his head on and its 3-2. It’s all up to the ref and his watch now and again we win the ball back in the middle and 25 yards out Cian Murray is upended. Ste Leahy and Dave Rooney stand over it. It favours the latter and he whips it round the wall and into the corner for the equalizer. Howth tip off and after 3 minutes of added time it’s all over, finishing 3-3.
Fabulous fighting spirit from the lads. Thanks to all who showed up to support and hopefully it was worth hanging around until the end for.
RVR 3 – 3 Howth Celtic
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