BPFL Intermediate Division
St James' Swifts 3-1 Brantwood
IT was a great day out for St James’ Swifts as they took home a 3-1 victory over Brantwood at Celtic Park in a thrilling second half which saw all four of the game's goals.
The match opened with a minute’s silence for Swifts coach Tommy Kavanagh who sadly passed away earlier this week.
The game opened slowly with each team seeking to work the other team out. Swifts had a chance at 11 minutes which was taken by Thomas Logan but the shot went to the left of the net. Swifts began to really press over the next 20 minutes and had another chance 16 minutes in when Eugene Gallagher took a shot at goal but it too went wide.
Brantwood went for their first chance 23 minutes in with a header from Dean Abbott but it wasn’t to be and the match remained goalless.
Swifts’ Sean Pat Donnelly next came in thick and fast with two chances in two minutes but both were saved by Brantwood’s ‘keeper Ross Hunter.
Eugene Gallagher tried again to line one up for the Suffolk Road men but the attempt was shut down by Brantwood’s eager defence.
John Savage sees an effort go outside the post
This stalemate continued until the end of the half when play was temporarily stopped at 45 minutes to help John Savage off the pitch after he sustained a bad leg injury. He was subsequently replaced by Ethan McCormick just before time was called on the half.
Both teams took to the second half with renewed energy, with Swifts’ Sean Pat Donnelly taking another go at 48 minutes but it was again saved by the skills of Ross Hunter.
That same minute a Brantwood counter-attack saw Jonathan Dallas chip the ball to Alexander Crawford who went for goal only for the shot to fly over the net.
Swifts then rallied, building up considerable momentum which led to the first goal of the game, a nice finish from Thomas Logan who would go on to score another before the half was out.
Jonathan Dallas of Brantwood next took the ball and executed a great run up the left wing before going for the goal but he was blocked at the last minute by Swifts' defenders.
Brantwood kept pushing and it paid off, with a goal coming in shortly afterwards from Dean Abbot who scored a great header to equalise the scoreline.
A double substitution then followed with Bryan Rainey coming on for Brantwood and Kurtis McGookin coming off, and Lookman Lawal coming on for Richard McAuley.
Brantwood suffered a big upset at 67 minutes when in the midst of defending a Swifts corner, the ball was hit at the net by Thomas Logan and went off the leg of defender Marc Rainey to count as an own goal, putting Swifts in the lead with the score 2-1.
A minute later Swifts sent home the message, capitalising on Brantwood’s mistake when Thomas Logan came back again to score another for the Suffolk Road outfit putting them squarely in the lead with a score of 3-1.
More substitutions were made towards the end of the match as both teams kept pressing, but none had the luck which was seen in the previous 15 minutes.
The game concluded shortly thereafter with St James' Swifts now moving a place up in the league to third, overtaking Brantwood who are now fourth.
ST JAMES’ SWIFTS: R McKenna, M Feerick, R McMenamin, N Peoples, D McHugh, D Wilson, T Logan (goals 55, 68), S P Donnelly, J Savage, E Gallagher, A Martin
Subs: D Hyland, C Hyland, C Rooney, E McCormick
BRANTWOOD FC: R Hunter, D Abbott (goal 58 mins), S Cavey, C Leader, M Rainey (own goal 67 mins), R McAuley, J Rainey, K McGookin, A Crawford, M Thompson, J Dallas
Subs: B Rainey, M Stewart, S Morgan, L Lawal
