AUL: League leaders Coachford grab key win away to Grattan 

Grattan United 0 Coachford 1 

COACHFORD stretched their lead at the top of the Premiership to nine points after Jack Murphy’s headed goal on 43 minutes handed them a victory over Grattan United in front of a large crowd at O’Neill Park over the weekend.

And after this result, they have to be hot favourites now to land the Premiership title for this season.

It was not an easy three points to win though as Grattan went toe to toe with them for the full 90 minutes.

But winning football matches is all about putting the ball in the net when chances come your way and it was here that Coachford proved more clinical in the end.

With so much at stake, it was never going to be a spectacle, but the commitment from both sets of players was just quite extraordinary over the 90 minutes.

After Stephen Murray collected comfortably from Christy Driscoll, what a chance fell for Coachford when Evan O’Sullivan played in Cialan O’Sullivan, but he dragged his effort with only the keeper to beat to waste a wonderful chance.

At the other end, Harte’s cross reached Bullman who saw his header strike off a defender before going out for a corner.

Evan O’Sullivan did well with controlling the ball in a tight situation before rolling it on for the available Cialan O’Sullivan, but a sharp tackle from Curtin denied him a chance to fire towards goal.

Coachford came close again minutes later.

Cialan O’Sullivan exchanged passes with Evan O’Sullivan before crossing for Mark O’Connell who headed towards the bottom corner – only to see Tommy Martin produce an excellent save at the expense of a corner.

The woodwork then came to Coachford’s rescue when Bullman’s header from Curtin’s delivery came crashing off the bar before going to safety.

A cross then from Christy Driscoll that was aimed for the lurking Bullman was cut out in the nick of time by Billy Casey.

Matthew Bradley then fed Ryan Leahy who lifted his cross for Jack Murphy, but Tommy Martin recognised the danger and punched clear in time to abort the threat.

Minutes later; Evan O’Sullivan just failed to get a touch on Aidan Buckley’s low free kick that arrived in the box.

Both sides fought hard for possession now and Anthony O’Callaghan’s cross had just too much on it for the advancing Anthony Byrne as Stephen Murray collected.

Grattan then came close when from Anthony O’Callaghan’s cross, Bullman scooped over inside the box.

But, the ice was broken when Evan O’Sullivan was allowed to delay on the ball before lifting a perfect cross for Jack Murphy to head past Tommy Martin on 43.

After turning defence into attack, Mark O’Sullivan found Anthony Harte with a through ball into space, but the winger’s effort never really bothered Murray.

Then, when Matthew Bradley’s free was headed clear, Evan O’Sullivan steadied before firing over from 20.

The next 15 minutes was a scrappy affair with both sides challenging hard to gain the upper hand until Deckie Keating poked forward for Cialan O’Sullivan, who set off towards goal – only to see control let him down and with it, a glorious chance.

Coachford looked like edging it now and after Mark Murphy looped a header narrowly over from Evan O’Sullivan’s corner, Evan O’Sullivan did all the hard work, but skewed wide with only the keeper to beat.

With the clock running down quickly now, Grattan were doing everything in their power to unlock a Coachford defence that was not giving anything away and in the end, the table-toppers managed the game through to claim three more huge points once again.

Best for the winners was Evan O’Sullivan who produced another massive performance once again.

GRATTAN: Tommy Martin, Gary Coughlan, David Curtin, Anthony Byrne, Keith Harris, Anthony O’Callaghan, Michael Kent, Anthony Harte, Mark O’Sullivan, Christopher O’Driscoll, Christopher Bullman.

Subs: Padraig Crowley, Aaron Broderick and John Paul O’Sullivan for Mark O’Sullivan, Anthony Harte and Mark O’Sullivan (58), Eric Shinkwin for Christopher Bullman (88).

COACHFORD: Stephen Murray, Billy Casey, Matthew Bradley, Aidan Buckley, Keith Linzell, Mark O’Connell, Evan O’Sullivan, Mark Murphy, Jack Murphy, Cialan O’Sullivan, Ryan Leahy.

Sub: Deckie Keating for Jack Murphy (60).

Referee: Jim Hennessy.