An injury-stricken Raphoe 1st XI travelled to North Down on Saturday looking for their first win of the season, and a second-half goal rush made for an exciting match.
Raphoe started very slow with North taking the lead after less than two minutes on the clock when a simple ball from midfield found their No 9 with too much room and he made sure he took his chance with a well-hit reverse beating Gallagher in the Raphoe net.
North dominated as Raphoe struggled to cope with their opponent’s attacking style, and they soon doubled there lead when a short corner routine came off the face mask of Alan Meehan on the line winning the hosts a penalty stroke, which they converted.
Raphoe finally got into the game and started to create chances, and from a short corner they could of had one back but Jonny Long fluffed his lines at the back post.
Raphoes next chance fell to Tommy Orr who was picked out by Jordan Devenney in the circle, Orr beat the defender and got a shot away, unable to hit the target.
Raphoe caught North on a counter and Long made a run from midfield to get on the end of Simon Goudie pass. Long got into the circle and fired a reverse shot on target, the North keeper got the finest of touches on the ball to put it out for a corner, which came to nothing and the half ended 2 – 0.
Raphoe got back into the game in the second half when Tommy Orr won a short corner and Raphoe worked the set piece to Jonny Long who fired home to reduce the deficit.
Raphoe had a foothold in the game again and started to push to get back on level terms, this left them open to counters and North took advantage of this, restoring their 2 goal advantage, making it 3 – 1.
North made it 4 – 1 when they won a short corner and found the bottom right-hand corner with a well-placed drag flick.
Simon Goudie got another one back when Tommy Orr won a short corner for his team. Goudie finished off a well-worked short to smash home through the keeper’s legs, 4 – 2. North added a fifth when they got another short corner and another goal, 5 – 2.
Raphoe got the third goal when Goudie finished of another short corner after working the ball around the North defence, 5 – 3.
At this stage in the game both teams were looking to add more goals, Raphoe looking to get a result from the game and North looking to secure the win.
North scored two more goals from counters either side of Keith Meehan’s goal for Raphoe, when it was stolen from the North defence by Adam West and Meehan took the ball and passed to Orr who placed the ball back into Meehan who was moving into the circle and fired home his shot.
The game ended 7 -4 with the North Down crowd enjoying a goal-rich, exciting second half.
Raphoe 1st XI: R. Gallagher, T. Eaton, E. Lyttle, A. Meehan, A. Crumley, J. Long, K. Meehan, J. Devenney, T. Orr, S. Cleverly, Jake. Watt, John. Watt, A. West.
