U12 | McCarragher free-kick sinks the Quay

U12 Premier Division| Bellurgan United 2–1 Quay Celtic

Action from the Bellurgan United v Quay Celtic game at Tom Flynn Park on Tuesday night

Quay Celtic made the journey to the peninsula on Tuesday evening knowing that nothing less than a win would be good enough to keep them in real contention at the top of the U12 Premier Division but a stubborn Bellurgan side did them no favours with this narrow victory.

Leaders Rock Celtic also suffered a narrow defeat, losing one-nil away to Ardee Celtic. Rock are still on top with 40 points from 17 games. Ardee have 39 points from 18 with two games remaining with Quay in third place on 35 points from 18 games.

The Dundalk outfit took the upper hand in the opening exchanges, creating several chances and a Finn Conlon header was cleared off the line by Thomas McCarragher after just four minutes. Kevin Teather’s goalbound effort five minutes later was then bravely blocked by Bellurgan’s Cillian Keenan.

Bellurgan went in front shortly after when Cormac Mallon’s free kick was superbly headed home by McCarragher but the sides were level on 15 minutes when a Teather effort beat Tom Bradley with the help of a slight deflection.

The second half saw a much-improved Quay team take the game to Bellurgan and Feidhelm O’Callaghan was denied by a Tom Bradley save with the rebound fired over by Luke O’Connell.

The Point Road side continued to push and a low shot from Oisin McBride beat the advancing Bradley but the ball struck the post and drifted wide.

Bellurgan responded in fine style with a sweeping move that ended with a foul on McCarragher on the outskirts of the penalty area and he stepped up to fire the free-kick into the bottom corner of the net to put Bellurgan 2–1 in front.

Oisin McBride almost levelled for Quay in the closing stages but Bellurgan held on for a deserved win.

BELLURGAN UNITED: Tom Bradley, Liadan Clynch, Kyle Murphy, Sean Hoey, Joey McMahon, Gerry McFadden, Cillian Keenan, Brian Boyle, Cormac Mallon, Ryan McArdle, Thomas McCaragher, Evan Dunne.

QUAY CELTIC: Conor Crawley, Feidhelm O’Callaghan, Andrew Begley, Liam O’Hanlon, Sam Cassidy, Oisin McBride, Luke O’Connell, Conor McKenna, Kevin Teather, Finn Conlon.

REFEREE: Niall Minto.