Ongar Rovers (1) v Beechlawn Rovers FC (2)
Maher Cup 1st Round
Venue: Ongar
Date: 20th February 2010

Beechlawn Rovers turned their attentions to the Maher Cup for the Saturday fixture against Ongar Rovers. On the back of their best form this season, they went into this game high on confidence and eager to progress in the last cup competition this season.
With a number of players unavailable to Robbie Roden, he made a few changes to the team that beat Shelbourne FC last week. In came Colly Roden at left back, Derek Mitchell in front of him on the left wing and Feder the Dog also came in for his debut upfront alongside Kev Feeney.
Rovers got off to a perfect start when straight from the kick off, Damo Murphy sent a lovely ball forward for the rushing Shane Denham who managed to get there before the keeper to the send the ball into the net after roughly 5 seconds of play. A fantastic start to the game and Rovers continued on from there and attacked the hosts at will, using the wings to particular effect at times. Shane Denham was proving to be a real torn in the side and at every opportunity ran down the home defence, giving the Ongar left back a torrid time.
Rovers didn’t have to wait long to get their second goal of the goal and after some a barnstorming run by Feder the Dog, he flicked the ball onto Damo Murphy who slotted home from close range to open up the lead. Beechlawn Rovers only looked like adding to that tally afterwards and they pressed forward at every chance.
The first half was held up for a while when an Ongar player had to receive treatment for a nasty injury to his foot, which left him a gaping hole left by a Damo Murphy stud. On resumption of the game, Ongar seemed to find their way into the game a little bit more and managed to get a few testing shots in on goal. However despite a few ropey moments from Rovers, they managed to hold firm until half time.
The second saw the Away team lose a bit of momentum and maybe concentration, thinking the game was beyond the home team. That loss of concentration was evident in the goal that got the home team back into the game. Slack play in midfield saw the ball turned over and other opportunities to get the ball away failed. The ball eventually came into the box, keeper John O'Rourke got a hand to the ball only for it to spill to out and deflect of Stef Power onto the post and eventually the Ongar striker managed to bundle the ball over the line.
The home side, clearly buoyed by the goal started to press further and whilst they were in on the wings they failed to really threaten the goal seriously. From an Ongar attack, Derek Mitchell got hold of the ball and a beautiful ball from defence found Damo Murphy who was able to run clear of the home defence only to tamely scuff his shot over the bar.
Manager Robbie Roden had seen enough and decided to make 3 substitutions in quick succession to try and inject some life into the team. Off came Kev Feeney, Feder the Dog and Derek Mitchell for Mick Ennis, Rob 'Hollywood' Harvey and Deco McCabe. The subs meant a re-shuffle of the pack for Rovers. Damo Murphy and Shane Denham went up top; David Denham went onto the Right wing with Dave Murray moving into midfield alongside Stef Power. McAuley and Deco slotted into the centre and right of defence with Spidermick taking up Mitchell’s spot on the left of midfield.
The changes had a near immediate effect and Damo and Denham causing the Ongar defence numerous problems. Damo found himself clear again on two occasions but failed to get that goal that would kill off the game. Denham meanwhile did well to release Double D on the right wing twice but his crossing was poor when it was needed.
Ongar came close once or twice in the final 10 minutes but O'Rourke was equal to what came at him and the introduction of McAuley and Deco in the defence restricted the home side to anything of note.
The final chance of the game was to Rovers, Double D was again given the ball out the right and after cutting back he sent in a left footed cross to the feet of Damo who turned and shot well only to see his shot go agonisingly wide. The cheating scumbag of a ref, who had a massive beard, blew up from the resulting goal kick to send Rovers into the next round of the cup.
Rovers follow up this win with a home fixture against Rivermeade in the league next Saturday.

Team:

John O'Rourke (GK)

Colly Roden (LB)
Orey Roche (CB)
Dave Murray (CB)
David Denham (RB)

Derek Mitchell (LM)
Stef Power (Mid)
Damo Murphy (Mid)
Shane Denham (RM)

Feder the Dog (FW)
Kev Feeney (FW)

Substitutes:
Deco McCabe
Dan Judge
Mick Ennis
Joey Buckley