Rock move top of Division One with narrow win over Kentstown

NEFL Division One

Kentstown Rovers 1 Rock Celtic 2

Rock Celtic moved top of Division One with a crucial victory over Kentstown Rovers on Sunday morning.

The evergreen David Ward scored the winner as Paudie Gollogley's side leap-frogged Athboy and Carrick in the table, albeit having played a game extra.

The sides were level at the break following a first-half which saw the awarding of a penalty either way. Rock received their spot-kick in the 10th minute when Des McKeown was brought down after good link-up play between Odhran Duffy and Aidan Curtin on the left-hand side. Derek Delany shot the resultant kick home to put Rock ahead.

However, the home side levelled with a 12-yard kick of their own as the referee saw it fit to penalise Rock 'keeper Paul Scanlon five-minutes before the break.

The second-half began fairly scrappily before Ward registered the game decider. More neat play along the left-wing saw Duffy, Curtin and McKeown combine as the ball found Ward who beat the Kentstown 'keeper at his near post.

Scanlon was called into action during a nervy final half-hour, producing two wonderful stops in particular as the Blackrock men took a giant step towards an immediate return to the Premier Division

Rock Celtic: Paul Scanlon; Liam McDonnell, Paudie Gollogley, Paddy Reilly, Odhran Duffy; Brendan Rogers, Derek Delany, Ed Maguire, Aidan Curtin; Des McKeown, David Ward

Subs: Conor McDonald, Jamie McCaul, Mark Hannah, Robert Cosgrove