Bounce of the ball favours Downings who snatch late win away to Buncrana

Downings snatched a win from the jaws of defeat on Sunday afternoon with football’s new rules helping them to a late, late win over Buncrana.

It gave them back-to-back wins in Division 1 and, with five games remaining, they sit midtable with a bit of breathing space between them and the teams battling against relegation.

The Downings men built up a seven-point lead midway through the first half but led by just 0-9 to 1-4, and the break and despite Conor Boyce getting a tap-in goal right from the throw-in they were pegged back by a Buncrana side who considerably upped their performance after the change of ends.

Two pointers from Darach O’Connor, John Campbell and Aaron Cleary had Buncrana level with ten minutes to go, and when Allen Pasoma got a straight red card for a strike on Sean McLaughlin Downings’ prospects looked bleak.

But the side managed by Maxi Curran showed good character, Shane Coll firing over a point in response to a 57th minute free from Dylan Mulholland that had put Buncrana, managed by Gary Duffy, into the lead for the first time in the game.

The contest had already entered injury time when the 14 men were punished for failing to keep three players in attack, Coll’s crossing was spied by referee Anthony Finn and John Campbell tapped over the resulting 20m free. That put Buncrana 1-14 to 1-13 ahead, but there was a final twist.

Buncrana’s Billy Duffy was punished for overcarrying deep inside the Downings half, but when he dropped the football instead of handing it back to an opponent the referee applied the appropriate - and draconian - punishment and brought the ball forward by 50 metres to a spot between the 45m and the edge of the arc – inside two pointer range.

His side trailing by a point, Johnny McGroddy took the free kick from his hands. The ball held up in the breeze and dropped in the square where, inexplicably, Buncrana allowed it to bounce off the hard sod and over the bar. There was consternation from the home team when referee Finn held up both hands to signal a two-pointer.

Unlike in Clones a week earlier when Shaun Patton got a touch to a two-point effort from Oisin O’Neill that downgraded it to a point, the umpire confirmed no Buncrana hand had touched the ball and the two-point free gave Downings the narrowest of wins, 1-15 to 1-14.t

It was a cruel way for Buncrana to lose it.

They had absorbed an early Downings onslaught where three two pointers – two from full forward Patrick McElwee and one from Shane Coll – saw the men in black race into an 0-9 to 0-2 lead by the 23rd minute.
They might even have been further ahead – they were off target from nine other attempts at the posts – and Buncrana gratefully squeezed through the door Downings had left ajar.

Darach O’Connor pointed on either side of a goal from Ryan Bradley for a fine one-two combination from the former county men.
Bradley’s goal came in the 28th minute. The full forward collected the ball at the second attempt out on the right and then used his strength to burst in along the endline, side-stepping to improve his angle, and rifled the ball low past Jordan Nugent.

The Jigger’s scores, too, were top class. The first after he came onto a diagonal ball and his second after Buncrana showed patience in injury time to keep recycling the ball around the Downings defence before O’Connor exploited a gap to reduce the half time deficit to two points, 0-9 to 1-4.

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Downings ran a well-rehearsed set play from the throw-in, won by Ethan Cullen who drove forward at high speed. The midfielder passed the ball left to dangerman Patrick McElwee, and he floated a handpass back across the square for Conor Boyce to palm home at the back post.

Buncrana were non-plussed and responded with a point from half time sub Sean McLaughlin, who only recently returned after nearly two years out through injury. Two two pointers from Jigger and John Campbell had them level by the 36th minute.
Downings opened another three point lead, with points from McElwee, McGroddy and a superb individual effort from Paidin Shields who fisted over after galloping forward from deep inside his own half.

McElwee could’ve put Downings out of sight just before the water break when he was put through one-on-one with Buncrana keeper Adam Harrigan, but his shot hit the butt of the post and ricocheted wide.

Dylan Mulholland hit a fine point from a narrow angle before Aaron Cleary drew Buncrana level with a two pointer in the 53rd minute.

Allen Pasoma was red carded with a little under ten minutes to go, and Buncrana looked to have done enough to take a crucial win when Campbell chipped over a 20m free after the 14 men fell afoul of the three-up-in-attack rule.

But McGroddy’s late free kick gave Downings victory in a game they should have won but almost threw away before benefitting from a bounce of the ball.

Buncrana scorers: Jigger 0-4 (1 2pt); John Campbell 0-3 (1 2pt, 1f); R Bradley 1-0; D Mulholland 0-3 (1f); Aaron Cleary 0-2 (2pt); Sean McLaughlin 0-1; Billy Duffy 0-1.

Downings scorers: Patrick McElwee 0-6 (2 2pt, 1f); Johnny McGroddy 0-4 (1 2ptf, 1f); Shane Coll 0-3 (1 2pt); Paidin Shields 0-1; Conor Boyce 1-1.

Buncrana: Adam Harrigan; Cathal McNutt, John Paul McKenna, Andrew Davison; Aaron Cleary, William McLaughlin, Michael Gallagher; Peter McLaughlin, John Campbell; Oisin O’Flaherty, Darach O’Connor, Darragh Corry; Billy Duffy, Ryan Bradley, Dylan Mulholland. Subs: Sean McLaughlin for D Corry (half time); Daire McColgan for D O’Connor (40 mins); Liam Jordan for O O’Flaherty (50 mins); Kevin Treacy for R Bradley (57 mins).

Downings: Jordan Nugent; Ben McNutt, Oisin Boyce, Pádraig McGinty; Paidin Shields, Ronan Gallagher, Alex Geratowski; Ethan Cullen, Callum Cullen; Allen Pasoma, Shane Coll, Dylan McGlone; Conor Boyce, Patrick McElwee, Johnny McGroddy. Subs: Hugo Davis for O Boyce (half time); Gary Ban McClafferty for D McGlone (54 mins).

Referee: Anthony Finn (Naomh Colmcille).