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York Athletic 2 - Stedfast United 1

April 17th 2000. Evening Herald.

WINNING can become a habit and in-form York Athletic proved that again by extending their unbeaten run to fourteen games with this Leslie Reynolds Cup semi-final victory. At the end of last season York, who were in the LSL, almost folded, but they joined the UCFL and they have now gained a new lease of life.

They showed the importance of a good start by scoring both their goals in the opening minutes of each half against Stedfast at a windy AUL Complex on Saturday. The games was only three minutes old when man-of-the-match Gordon "Rocky" Hand showed admirable persistance to make the most of a lapse by United keeper William Houston to score. And persistance also paid off for Athletic's flying winger Conor Walsh six minutes into the second half as he chased a Niall O'Carroll through ball to steer a shot past the 'keeper.

Stedfast however created opportunities with the impressive Donal Brady crashing a shot against the post late in the second half and their hard work yielded some reward in the 89th minute when Brady blasted a fine shot to the net after a neat interchange with Harry Harrison. It proved too little, too late for Karl Markey's side while his counterpart, Athletic boss Pat Dunne, can look forward to the final at Dalymount Park early next month.

STEDFAST: William Houston, Gordon Meehan, Scott Ellis, Geoff Dungan, Cathal McNiffe, Gerry Browne, Steve Coffey, Stephen White, Brian Hannon, Donal Brady, Kevin Dooley.
Subs : Graham Lawless for McNiffe, Harry Harrison for Hannon, Mark Kenny for Browne, Alan Walsh.