Kynog United V Newbridge Town

Kynog Utd 2 - 0 Newbridge Town

The first match of the new year saw Kynog welcome Newbridge to Timahoe on a cold windy morning. Playing with the wind in the first half, Newbridge started strongly and penned Kynog back as they looked for an early goal and it took some fine defending from David Randles, Ross Phelan and Joey Toman at the heart of the Kynog defence to keep them out. Midway through the first half, the Kynog keeper, Reece Winders had to be out quickly to save as Dylan Halligan made a great run down the right. Kynog created few chances in the first half, but they were unlucky when a nice passing move involving Craig Harris and Glen Thorpe saw an Adam Lynch shot well saved. With only a few minutes of the first half remaining Newbridge had the best chance of the half from a corner, only for Ross Phelan and then Gerry Melia to clear off the line to leave the match finely balanced at half-time.

Into the second half and Kynog started brightly with Adam Lynch, Glen Thorpe and Cathal Mattimoe all going close before a long ball out of defence found the well timed run of Adam Toman and he finished coolly to give Kynog the lead. Kynog continued to create chances to extend their lead but fine defending from Newbridge, particularly Dylan Kieran at the heart of their defence, kept the game on a knife edge as Newbridge looked dangerous on the break. With the last kick of the match, Kynog put the game beyond Newbridge as left-back Graham Beirne picked up a clearance and with a fantastic solo effort, ran the length of the pitch and slammed the ball high into the net. In difficult conditions, both teams should take great credit for playing some neat passing football which kept the crowd entertained throughout.