New Santos vs Greencastle Rovers II
Following two close defeats in the cups, New Santos were back on league duty looking to keep their 100% record in tact against Greencastle Rovers' second string.
A mis-placed pass from the kick off from David Dougan let Greencastle in with an early chance which their striker squawndered, hitting wide from 18 yards. The let-off spurred Santos on early on and after 10 minutes, Paddy O'Reilly scored a superb goal, collecting a pass from Kevin Carson and beating two men before slotting under the keeper to put Santos 1-0 up.
Five minutes later, O'Reilly got his second, taking a pass from Stevie Copeland and beating a man before slotting in to the net. Greencastle were not discouraged from going two goals down and kept battling on before O'Reilly completed his hat-trick, nodding in from six yards from a superb Stevie Copeland cross.
Three goals to the good, Santos should have seen the game off but Greencastle, to their credit, kept going and were awarded a lifeline. A collision between JP Byrne, David Harrigan and a Greencastle striker was deemed to be a penalty which was converted to make it 3-1.
Shortly before half-time, Greencastle had an effort cleared off the line by Dougan during a goal mouth scramble, however the ball broke to the edge of the box and a Greencastle player finished into the top corner to keep their comeback on track.
Half-time: New Santos 3-2 Greencastle Rovers II
The second half began as a much tighter affair than the first with neither side creating much early on. Santos lost their captain Martin Magee through injury and shortly after
Copeland was forced off following a nasty challenge from a Greencastle midfielder.
With their backs to the wall, Santos nearly conceded an equaliser following a spectacular 25 yard effort which came back off the inside of the post. Greencastle kept applying pressure and were rewarded with 10 minutes to go as their striker converted from a flick on past JP Byrne and into the bottom left corner.
Having blown their three goal lead, Santos had one more chance to win it however O'Reillys volley was palmed out by the Rovers keeper who also saved the follow up header. In the end, a draw was a fair result but the draw felt like a defeat for Santos who blew their opportunity to keep pace with league leaders Sport and Leisure Swifts and Cumann Sport an Phoball.
Full-time: New Santos 3-3 Greencastle Rovers II
New Santos Team:
GK: JP Byrne
RB: Conor Chambers
CB: Brian Caldwell
CB: David Dougan
LB: Kevin Carson
RM: David Harrigan
CM: Kieran Seaward
CM: Paul Barr
LM: Stevie Copeland (Ronan Doherty)
ST: Paddy O'Reilly
ST: Martin Magee (Chris Jones)
Santos Goals : Paddy O'Reilly x3 (Stevie Copeland assist x2, Kevin Carson assist)
MOTM: Paddy O'Reilly
