Hail, Rain And A League Title For Town 19’s
Sunday 27th January 2013. League of Ireland U19
Galway United ST 1-5 Athlone Town
As the hailstones pelted down on a horrid evening in Galway, Athlone Town inflicted a 5-1 defeat on their hosts to secure the League of Ireland Southern Division League title with a game to spare!
Jordon Conroy opened the scoring early in the game with a well struck angled shot that left the GUST keeper rooted to the ground. While Conroys pace was causing all sorts of problems to the Galway defense, at the other end Ronan Morris was a pillar of strength as he dealt with everything thrown at him. David Brookes had a tough battle in midfield with Junior Iyawe, while Brian Duhan proved to be a handful up front for. Despite Eoin McCormack and Dylan McCabe launching wave after wave of attack, Athlone couldn’t find a second goal before the half time break.
Barely 2 minutes into the second half, Ian Sweeney took a layer of paint off the crossbar as his powerful shot from distance was just too high to count. Just a minute later, with most of the spectators still finishing off their half time tea, substitute Danny Campion earned Athlone a penalty, and Sweeney made no mistake from the spot.
Town started to step up a gear and, once again, the crossbar foiled Ian Sweeney before Conroy notched up his brace. Next to get in on the act was center half Ronan Morris, who made it 4-0, bundling the ball into the net from close range in a crowded area.
As the game moved into the final stages, Patrick Madden pulled one back for the home side with a well placed shot that curled around the diving Brian Redmond in the Town goal. But GUSTs joy was short lived as Roy King put the finishing touch to a deserved win with a late strike to make it 5.
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Ian Sweeney, Danny Campion (13) and David Brookes celebrate with Jordan Conroy after the striker scored his second goal of the game
AC Sports Images 