Athlone Town 0
Dundalk 1
A CRITICAL PENALTY award by referee Graham Kelly made all the difference in the top vs bottom clash at Lissywoollen this evening.
Dundalk’s Richie Towell was controversially given the chance to secure all three points for his team in the 94th minute, a chance he took with ease and style.
The contrast between the elation and joy of the Dundalk supporters and the bitter disappointment and anger among the home crowd was stark as the players and officials walked off the field to a cacophony of boos and catcalls.
At the end of a poor tie where good scoring chances were rare and composed efforts on goal from those chances were non-existent, it looked as if Athlone Town had done enough to secure their first league point of the year since securing promotion last season.
Despite playing without their three first choice centre backs and their starting goalkeeper due to injury and suspension, they defended manfully in this tie and they certainly wouldn’t have been at all flattered if the game ended scoreless.
There were half chances on both sides certainly – James O’Brien blasted the ball into the side netting from twelve yards out after just twenty seven seconds, Philip Gorman had a nice curling effort from the edge of the box midway through the second half that looped narrowly wide and Seán Byrne drew an unorthodox save from Peter Cherrie late on, while at the Athlone end of the ground Richie Towell, Patrick Hoban and Darren Meenan all had opportunities but failed to test Craig Sexton.
Route one
Ruiadhrí Higgins had perhaps the best opportunity of the tie when he took on a 25 yard free right in the middle of the goals in the last minute of normal time, but his tame effort was easily gathered by Craig Sexton.
At both ends, long balls over the top were the primary source of half-chances. Dundalk didn’t look like league contenders at any stage in this tie as players on both sides spent a lot more time looking up at the ball than looking down at it. James O’Brien and Meenan were the main creative influences in this game but both teams struggled to get sufficient support for their solitary strikers and failed utterly to pick holes in their opponents’ defensive alignments along the deck.
Dundalk felt extremely hard done by when Kurtis Byrne looked to have his jersey pulled by Declan Brennan in the 76th minute only for referee Graham Kelly to wave play on, but the tired old cliché about contentious decisions evening themselves out certainly was rendered apt when Kelly pointed to the spot in the final minute of injury time for what looked like legal and minimal contact between Brennan and Meenan as they both pursued a header across the goals.
Athlone’s disbelief at the decision was obvious as their players crowded around the arbiter, which in turn resulted in Seán Byrne being sent off on a straight red card for dissent. In the final decisive act of the game, Richie Towell struck an immaculate penalty low to the bottom corner of the Athlone Town net, a strike that brought Dundak back level with Cork City and almost visibly broke the hearts of the home side.
ATHLONE TOWN: Craig Sexton; Stephen Quigley (Ian Sweeney 86), Conor McMahon, Declan Brennan, Barry Clancy; Mark Hughes; Kealon Dillon, Seán Byrne, James O’Brien, Sean Brennan (Jason Marks 73); Philip Gorman.
Subs not used: Graham Rusk.
DUNDALK: Peter Cherrie; Seán Gannon, Mark Rossiter, Andy Boyle, Dane Massey; Ruaidhrí Higgins; Darren Meenan, John Mountney (David McMillan 60), Richie Towell, Daryl Horgan (Kurtis Byrne HT); Patrick Hoban (Mark Griffin 82).
Subs not used: Brian Gartland, Chris Shields, Simon Kelly, Gabriel Sava (GK).
Referee: Graham Kelly