Not a good Friday for Enfield Celtic

There was nothing good about Friday night's result for Enfield Celtic at the MDL when they were pegged back to level terms from a controversial 86th minute OMP Utd penalty equaliser as the sides shared four North East Football League Div 1 goals.

The decision to award the penalty, apparently for handball, appeared harsh, but OMP capitalised and Ryan Murphy converted from the spot.

Enfield surged forward in search of a late winner as they needed to take the three points to sustain their promotion prospects, but all they collected was some 'penalty points' when they had Alan Keller red-carded following a outburst of what OMP manager David Doyle later described as 'handbags' in a post-match interview.

His Enfield counterpart Brendan Corri wasn't too happy over the penalty decision and commented 'very disappointed losing out on the three points over such a bad decision' and he must now hope for some favourable results if his team is to secure promotion to the Premier League.

Enfield are currently in second place with one game to play against Torro Utd while the chasing duo of Black Bull and Ardee have three games in hand.

The game itself was packed with good football played at a high-tempo, although the pace slackened at times and that was understandable.

Former Athlone Town man Barry Clancy gave Enfield the lead in the 27th minute.

OMP stalwart Mickey Brennan made the opening for the equaliser soon after when his shot from outside the penalty area was parried by Sean Coyle into the path of Gavin Boyle who finished with Enfield looking for offside - it wasn't offside.

Enfield maintained the tempo and were denied a lead goal in the second-half when David Morgan's effort thundered off the OMP crossbar, but they forged ahead on 67 minutes when Nathan O'Neill finished well.

OMP upped the tempo in the closing stages, but didn't look like getting anything from the game until that late penalty gave them an opportunity and they capitalised to stay top of the table.

There are two automatic promotion places - first and second - while third will play-off with third from bottom in the Premier.

OMP Utd - David Nolan; David Bracken, David Gallagher, Joseph Garvey, Daire Corcoran, Craig Dixon, Andrew Kearney, Stephen Casey, David Bowens, Michael Brennan, Gavin Boyle. Subs - Paul McGuirk for Gallagher 40 mins, Ryan Murphy for Boyle 64m, Mark Horrigan for Bowens 87m.

Enfield Celtic - Sean Coyle; Evan Coyle, Conor McNamara, Dean Brennan, Alan Keller, Dylan McDonagh, Nick Foster, Barry Clancy, Thomas Wynne, David Morgan, Nathan O'Neill. Sub - Johnny Sweeney for Foster 560 mins.

Referee - Peter Burns junior

 

 

DIVISION 1

                           P W D L F A Pts

OMP Utd            19 13 5 1 53 21 44

Enfield Celtic       21 14 4 3 73 34 43*

Ardee Celtic        18 12 5 1 44 20 41

Black Bull           18 12 2 4 52 27 38

Johnstown            19 8 4 7 58 46 31*

Navan Town          19 7 6 6 37 41 27

Athboy Celtic        19 7 2 10 30 33 23

Square Utd          19 5 3 11 29 51 18

Woodview Celtic    20 5 2 13 33 64 17

Torro Utd             20 4 3 13 29 63 15

Trim Town           18 4 1 13 32 53 13

Kentstown Rovers 18 3 3 12 28 45 12

* Points adjustment

FRIDAY RESULTS

Black Bull 8, Trim Town 0.

OMP Utd 2, Enfield Celtic 2