Final flourish
Dunne in inspired form to halt brave Corinthians' Knight effort
June 5th 2000. Evening Herald by Jimmy Geoghegan.
Stedfast United 2 - Trinity Corinthians 2
(Stedfast 7-6 on pens)
It may have been the last final of the season but there was little evidence of any end-of-term
lethargy in this gripping Richard Knight decider at the AUL Complex on Monday evening last.
When 110 minutes of highly competitive football couldn't separate the sides the outcome was
decided with a marathon penalty shoot-out with sub Eugene Long slotting away the crucial spot
kick. At the end Tom Rowley's side were left wondering how they had lost the game. They had
by far the greater amount of possession yet found it difficult to breakdown a watertight defence.
One of the heros for Stedfast was man-of-the-match Derrick Dunne, who kept his team in the game
with a couple of crucial saves, most notably from Paul Ferriter, Donagh McDonagh and Aaron
Shearer. He also did well to block Paddy Markey's well struck penalty to leave the way open for
Long to finish off the tie in a dramatic shoot-out. Goal-smith supreme Gary Whyte also sparkled
for United. He had just two half chances and took them both with aplomb to bring his tally for
the season to a remarkable 52 goals.
OUTSTANDING
Trinity have their own goal machine in Barry Fanning who gave his side the lead with a lovely lob
after 8 minutes - his 27th in just over 20 appearances for the club. The Corinthian's superb
midfield of McDonagh, Ferriter, Colm Costello and the outstanding Stephen O'Shaughnessy held away
for most of the game. It was Ferriter who made it 2-2 just after the interval with a tap in from
no more than a few yards and the score remained like that to the end of extra time. However there
was some good news for the Corinthians. As Noel Fitzroy was presenting the trophy news filtered
through that Strand United has defeated Clontarf securing second place for Trinity in the Premier
table - and confirming them as one of the success stories of the season.
STEDFAST
: Derrick Dunne, John Kingston, Danny White, Darren Kavanagh, Ken O'Reilly,
Aidan Delaney, Kevin Norris, Robbie Donnelly, Henry Fox, Robert Doyle, Gary Whyte.
Subs : Joe Reynolds for Kavanagh, Eugene Long for O'Reilly, Robert Giltrap for Norris.
Subs not used: Karl Walsh, Niall Little.
REFEREE: Paul Gartland. ASSISTANTS : Anthony Foran, Francis O'Brien