A despondent Crossmolina team departed Lacken on Thursday evening wondering if this was the result which would scupper their promotion charge for this season. A 1-0 defeat against an impressive Lacken side drops Crossmolina further back into the chasing pack of 6 teams and with only 6 games left the gap could prove too much for them to overcome. After losing nearly half of the team on the way to the match things quickly got even worse for Crossmolina as they were subjected to 45 minutes of solid Lacken pressure in the opening half. The home team’s tidy passing game was aided by a slick surface and for 45 minutes they ran rings around their visitors who must have been getting that lost feeling again. The imperious Brian Forde in defence was the instigator of most of Lacken’s thrust with some cool dribbling and assured passing which Crossmolina could only flail at in their futile attempts to stop his forward forays. Crossmolina goalkeeper Johnny O’Hora was much busier than his counterpart in the half as Lacken rained shots in on his goal. He was called upon early when a second minute shot from a Lacken player 18 yards away tested his alertness. Derek Greham had Crossmolina’s only real chance of the period when, in the 12th minute, he outpaced the Lacken defence but shot narrowly wide. At the other end Lacken were bossing midfield but their end product was often wasteful, fortunately for Crossmolina, whose desperate last-ditch defending averted what could have been a sizeable deficit. Lacken hit the post and fluffed two gilt edged chances from 8 yards out as O’Hora performed miracles to keep everything else out. Crossmolina were relieved to reach the interval with a stalemate and they imposed themselves on the game in the second half, making for a more even contest. Their forwards Michael Moyles and Greham received more service and as a result caused many more problems for the home side. Greham flashed 2 long range shots just over the bar and Padraig Whittaker shot weakly from 12 yards out on the hour mark. A Lacken counter attack from a corner ended with a shot striking the post as Crossmolina had another lucky escape. Joe Keane made a vital interception soon after when Lacken were trying to walk the ball into the goal instead of shooting on sight. Lacken had the extra man in the attack on an exposed visiting defence but they refused two shooting opportunites and Keane toe-poked the needless extra pass away for a corner kick. If proved to be a portent of things to come, however, as Lacken scored from a 20 yard free kick in the 67th minute to take a deserved 1-0 lead. They nearly doubled the lead within minutes when a hopeful long ball was misjudged by O’Hora and it bounced over him towards an unguarded goalmouth. A crazy scramble ensued with the netminder eventually regaining possession of the elusive ball. With 15 minutes remaining Crossmolina were enjoying their best spell of the match as they tried to force an equaliser when Eoin Syron ripped a cross into the Lacken box. Greham couldn’t connect with it from 6 yards out and it trickled harmlessly out for a throw-in. Minutes later Greham received a return pass from Moyles but his volley was once again inches too high and Crossmolina’s fate was sealed. It would be remiss of me to finish this report without mentioning the referee, Gus Alexander. Ouch, my tongue. This could be a result that will haunt Crossmolina in the coming weeks but for now they can only regroup and concentrate on the remaining fixtures rather than the past.

Crossmolina - J O’Hora, J McGuinness,, M Canavan, J Keane, J Canavan, E Syron(K Canavan 85), P Whittaker, S Canavan, J Duggan, D Greham, M Moyles

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Glenisland p-p Claremorris

Crossmolina AFC extends it's deepest sympathies to the family of Joe Moylette and Glenisland Utd. May he rest in peace.

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