THIS GAME OF three periods of 25 minutes was played on astro at the Aura Lesiure Centre in surprising calm conditions following torrential rain in the morning on the back of Storm Frank.
Donegal Schoolboys League 2003s 3 Maiden City 2
It was a frantic start by both teams with two goals coming in the first two minutes.
Firstly Maiden City stormed out of the blocks when a strong run down the left wing by Ben Gallagher saw his cross come shot sail over Donegal goalkeeper Patrick McGarvey putting them one up.
Donegal responded immediately with midfielder Adam Murphy going close with a long range effort and this was followed by Blake McGarvey forcing a Maiden City defender into a mistake which saw him fouled for a penalty. McGarvey, himself, duly stepped up and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way.
The game flowed from end to end for the next few minutes with both sides creating chances. Maiden City hit the bar during this time with the follow header sent over the bar by the on rushing Gallagher.
In the 8th minute, Donegal attacked down the middle and after a forceful run by Murphy, the ever impressive Blake McGarvey sent in a good cross only for the Maiden City defender to head past his goalkeeper for an own goal – 2-1 Donegal.
Both teams had further chances and in the 17th minute, Donegal Goalkeeper McGarvey sent a long ball down the middle and striker Joshua Bradley showed power and pace to outmuscle the Maiden City defence and finished smartly in the bottom corner – 3-1 Donegal.
Both sides created further chances with Maiden City going close with shot by striker Jason Donegan going just wide. There were no further additions to the score and the 1st period finished 3-1 to Donegal.
Both teams had efforts on goal however it wasn’t until the 24th minute of the period that Maiden City made a breakthrough. An incisive break was made down the right and the subsequent cross was swept in at the back post by Ben Gallagher for his 2nd goal of the game – 3-2 Donegal.
At the start of the third period, both teams continued to make changes and Maiden City went searching for the equaliser. They had a couple of good chances without really threatening the Donegal goal. The Donegal defence held firm and threatened on the counter.
The game finished with Donegal winning 3-2 in what was a very entertaining game between two well matched teams. Credit to both sets of players for the standard of football played.
DSL 2003’s would like to thank Breffni and his Maiden lads for making the trip down to Letterkenny.