Durrus F.C.

SEASON OFF WITH A SHARE OF THE SPOILS

DRINAGH 'B' 1 DURRUS 1

The 2010/11 season got off to a lively start in Drinagh as these two teams battled it out for a point apiece in the opening encounter. Durrus completely controlled the first half with three or four good efforts on goal and a whole bag fill of corners. They produced some stunning moves to carve open the home defence with captain Saucy O'Donovan, Sascha Marquart and Adam Sheehan pulling most of the strings. On the left flank Jason O'Sullivan offered plenty of pace but the deadlock was broken on the stroke of half time with a cleverly worked corner which saw Saucy in acres of free space to head the ball down onto the line and in the net leaving the keeper helpless.

The second half saw Drinagh wake up somewhat and things began to even out. Durrus keeper pulled off a fantastic save low down to his right and in turn the Rangers keeper saved well from shots from Sheehan and mike Burke. Durrus were missing the influential pair of Cion Whooley and Pat spillane but Mike Jarkowsi proved an excellent deputy for Whooley in the centre of defence and hardly put a foot wrong.

There was a bit of nonsense towards the end as referee Martin Coakley awarded Durrus first the advantage and then the free kick, some of the Drinagh players were not happy and the referee had to produce the red card when things got a little too excited and and one of the home players grabbed Marquart by the throat. Durrus tried everything to make the numerical advantage count but losing Jason O'Sullivan to a groin strain meant that with no natural left sided player things were a little unbalanced for a while. Alex daly replaced Philip Tessyman, who had ran himself into the ground but with five minutes remaining Drinagh got the goal they had been looking for when a long through ball was well placed for the striker to out pace the defence and give a smart finish low into the corner.

A good game to get the season up and running, Durrus produced some fantastic moves in the first half and should have been a few more goals to the good against a Drinagh side that were still sleeping. The second half was a more even affair and the sending off wasn't really any kind of reflection of the way the game played out. Drinagh will be happy with the point and Durrus may feel a little aggrieved but it's all about putting the chances away. Referee martin Coakley gave the sort of performance that we have come to expect from him and allowed the game to keep going for the most part.

Man of the Match: Adam Sheehan

"Once again we produced some cracking football but lack that killer touch. The goal was sweet because we've been practicing it in training for a while now. I was really pleased with Polski Mike's game as it was his first at centre half and he handled it well. I kind of felt it was two points lost but a point away in your first game isn't too bad."