JUST HOW GLENGAD United came away from Castle Park with nothing more than a point was nothing short of remarkable.
Buncrana Hearts 0 Glengad United 0
In fact, such was their dominance it felt like a trick of the mind that the title-holders and title-hopefuls somehow left with only a share of the spoils.
For 90 minutes, they peppered the Buncrana goal, without managing to find a way to break the deadlock.
Shaun Sweeney’s goal lived a charmed life. Glengad had 25 shots on goal on a night when they had 15 corners, but it was all in vain and the silence that greeted the final shrill of Eamon Doherty’s whistle told the story in a snapshot.
[adrotate group=”37″]The upshot of it is that, Glengad – the defending Jackie Crossan Premier Division champions – trail Clonmany Shamrocks by three points.
Glengad have a game in hand on Clonmany, who they play at Shamrock Park on what will now be a titanic final day of the season.
Before that, they’ll take on Culdaff FC this Sunday but they go to Caratra Park without the presence of Michael Byrne in the engine room, the big midfielder sent off for dissent three minutes from the end.
The best of Glengad’s chances came in the 89th minute. They were relentless, desperate even, by then, when Paul A McDermott headed back across the goal face towards Nigel McMonagle.
It was a case of the right man in the right place but McMonagle’s connection wasn’t true, the ball glancing off his head and Sweeney made the save, with Glengad’s players and supporters fiercely contesting that the ball had crossed the line.
McDermott himself had a chance at the far post in injury time. Three Glengad players were in the vicinity with sub McDermott the man who connected, but his header came off the outside of the post.
At the outset of the second half, Michael Byrne had prodded home from close range, but the celebrations were cut short, the referee deeming him to have impeded the goalkeeper.
Starting here just 72 hours after defeating Culdaff 3-2 in Sunday’s Ulster Junior Cup final, Glengad were a little pedestrian in the first half, but they should have opened the scoring seven minutes into the second half.
Matthew Byrne delivered a teasing cross from the left flank, but Michael Byrne headed past the target from point-blank range.
Sweeney, with a fine one-handed save, denied Paddy McDermott from a header after he connected with Terence Doherty’s cross, while Doherty thumped at Sweeney from distance as the clock ticked along.
In between times, Seamus Doherty, Matthew Byrne and Terence Doherty all fired wide.
In the deluge of chances, the frustrations of The Crua men were summed up when a Michael Byrne pass in the box inadvertently cannoned off a Buncrana player, but flew wide.
“Even we can’t score for you,” came the call from the Buncrana dugout.
Glengad were getting closer – or so they thought – to the inevitable breakthrough when Karl Kelly took Matthew Byrne’s header off the line and Terence Doherty’s attempt hit the top of the crossbar.
It was to Buncrana’s credit that they managed to emerge unscathed here. On one rare foray forward, it looked for a moment as if they might have done the unthinkable, but Ryan Doherty’s shot trickled just wide of the far post after he scampered up the left-hand side.
Buncrana were without Kieran McDaid, who was on international duty with the Irish Colleges and Universities team in Wales, and the home side certainly gave Glengad their fill of it.
The harsh truth for the champions, though, was that their sword should have been sharper here and more ruthless streak would have had this one in the bag long before those painful, agonising moments late in the game.
Already without the injured Christy Fildara and Adam Byrne, Glengad will also be without Michael Byrne this weekend after he was shown a straight red card for a spot of dissent towards the referee in the 87th minute.
Glengad were in dominant form here form early on with Seamus Doherty’s probing from the engine room giving them a platform, but of 14 shots on goal in the first half only three were at the target: Seamus Doherty drawing a save from Sweeney after Stephen Fildara picked him out from a corner; Donald O’Doherty clearing after McMonagle had beaten Sweeney; and McMonagle forced Sweeney into another save from 20 yards.
Terence Doherty fashioned a good opening on 20 minutes but his shot from the edge of the box was always rising and the glut of chances just kept on adding up for the north Inishowen men.
Late in the half, Matthew Byrne raced onto a ball on the left edge of the penalty box, only to strike the crossbar.
The head-in-hands-and-gritted-teeth reaction said it all, but the agony would go on.
The task might just have got a little harder, but Glengad remain in control of their destiny.
“We’re well capable of regrouping coming back with the results,” their manager, Shane Byrne said.
Buncrana Hearts: Shaun Sweeney; Karl Kelly, Donald O’Doherty, Gary Duffy, Ryan Doherty; James McGonagle, John McLaughlin, Liam McCarron, Eoin Murphy; Stephen McHugh, Alan Friel (James Adair 73).
Glengad United: Shaun O’Donnell; James McKinney, John G McLaughlin, Jason Doherty, Matthew Byrne; Stephen Fildara, Seamus Doherty, Michael Byrne, Terence Doherty; Nigel McMonagle, Paddy McDermott (Paul A McDermott 73).
Referee: Eamon Doherty.
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