Dún Laoghaire v. WWF - Friday 30th March 2007

A long awaited clash between old rivals Dún Laoghaire Town FC and WWF took place on the front pitch at Three Rock Rovers on Friday 30th March 2007 at 20.00hrs. Going into the game the Dún Laoghaire lads were certainly up for this match to make amends for being knocked out of the Cup last week on penos. Dún Laoghaire kicked off playing from left to right and the pace was set right from the whistle. As you would expect with this rivalry there were a few tough tackles in the opening minutes. But the lads of "The Town" weren't long getting the ball down and started to knock it about creating one or two half chances from the down the left wing. It was a bit of a stalemate for the next ten minutes or so. Dún Laoghaire with some of our key players back in action were soon to create chance upon chance with the young Steve McAfee twisting and turning to unleash a shot down to the keeper's left which came back off the upright. As Dún Laoghaire had most of the possession causing the WWF lads to work very hard to get a touch of the ball. With some excellent one two touch football from Dún Laoghaire again coming close to scoring with Daniel Downey making a brilliant run down the left wing and cutting inside to smash a shot off the near post. Though having most of the possession Dún Laoghaire failed to capitalise as we headed in to half time. WWF kicked off the second half but the Dún Laoghaire lads were straight out at them and within a minute or so Luke Murphy had a fine shot from about 30 yards which just went wide of the post. Dún Laoghaire were once again on top creating many chances the best coming from a corner from Thomas Downey which Luke Murphy headed towards goal forcing the WWF keeper to make a fine save with his outstretched right arm but he needed a second grasp to secure it. Dún Laoghaire again knocking the ball about quite comfortably causing a sequence of three corners with the first two being cleared for corners, third time lucky, Daniel Downey stood up to take the corner kick which he sent a quality ball into the box with Luke Murphy making a great run, timing his jump perfectly to head the ball down into the ground and into the back of the net. Straight from the tip off there was no holding Dún Laoghaire back as they were pressurising the ball forcing WWF to play the ball backwards. With Dún Laoghaire getting control of the ball causing all sorts problems for the WWF defenders and again hitting the bar from a fine shot from Thomas Downey (pictured above left) . With about five to six minutes remaining WWF pushing forward to get an equalizer creating some chances down the left wing which came to Ian Kane and Dean McAfee making some great last ditch crunching tackles to keep Dún Laoghaire on course for a win that they so richly deserved. All in all Dún Laoghaire making a fine team effort working very hard for one another. Final score: DLTFC 1 WWF 0. (Reporter: Ian Kane)