𝗢'𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟𝗟 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗛𝗔𝗧-𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗞

The reds cruised to another three points to maintain their hopes of securing promotion with this comfortable victory over 9-man Deele Harps.

Liam O’Donnell, with yet another hattrick, Gareth Hamilton, Dylan McElhinney and Kealan Bogle were the scorers on the day with Scott Macbeth and Jordan Duffy on target for the visitors.

Although it was comfortable in the end, the game did hang in the balance at times with Deele threatening more than once to regain a foothold in the game but Drumoghill manage to withstand the pressure and thoroughly deserved their victory.

The home side started with intent and were quickly in the driving seat thanks to a double strike from Liam O’Donnell inside the opening half hour. The striker is showing no signs of slowing down and might feel that he should have completed a first half hattrick but David Arthur in goals for the visitors managed to keep him at bay.

It looked like the game might already be over as a contest on the half hour when referee Matthew Hull administered the first of two red cards for the visitors on the day when a Deele player was red carded on 38 minutes.

Despite going down to 10 men, Deele started to exert a bit more pressure on the home side and reduced the deficit on the stroke of half time after a controversial decision from the referee. There appeared little danger when Corey Lindsay got possession inside the penalty area but his first time effort deflected off both posts before being cleared to safety by Dylan McElhinney.

There were no appeals for the goal to be awarded but the referee somehow deemed that the ball had crossed the line and awarded a goal to reduce the deficit to a goal at the break.
Drumoghill though settled any nerves that might have existed early in the second half when Gareth Hamilton headed home brilliantly from McElhinney’s cross before Kealan Bogle smashed home the goal of the day from the edge of the box.

However, Deele were not going to go down fighting and reduced the arrears again when Scott Macbeth fired home from the penalty spot on 69 minutes.

Dylan McElhinney restored his side’s 3 goal cushion when he hammered home Gareth Hamilton’s corner before Liam O’Donnell completed his hattrick on 80 minutes after Hamilton had been upended inside the penalty area. That collision led to the dismissal of another Deele player and Drumoghill saw the game out comfortably.