Sacred Heart edged out by Tolka
By Daire Walsh
DESPITE producing a strong performance on the day, Sacred Heart Firhouse Clover suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Tolka Rovers in a Leinster Senior League Senior Sunday One clash at Frank Cooke Park last Friday evening.
As a result of this loss, Sacred Heart currently occupy 11th spot in the 14-strong league table. Tolka Rovers are the current pace-setters with six wins, three draws and two reversals, albeit with two more games played than nearest rivals St Francis.
Even though Sacred Heart have just two wins from the nine games they have played thus far, there will be plenty of opportunities for the Tallaght-based outfit to shoot up the Senior One standings.
Their proposed clash with Kilbarrack United at Killinarden Heights last night was postponed due to a bereavement in the Kilbarrack club, but Sacred Heart will have a number of friendlies to focus their minds before returning to Senior One action. Monread FC, Tallaght Town and Crumlin United will be paying a visit to Killinarden in the coming weeks and with a number of players in the squad working their way back to full fitness, they can approach 2023 with a degree of optimism.
The youthful Josh Stapleton is one player who has struggled with injury in recent times, but he was on hand to deliver a solid display in the middle of the park against Tolka. Daniel Farrell also caused several problems for the hosts in the Ballygall venue and he got on the end of a good passage of play to break the deadlock in the early stages of the contest.
This threw down the gauntlet to Tolka, who had followed up three successive league draws with a 2-0 defeat to St Francis at John Hyland Park on November 18. Before that, five wins in six had helped to bolster their title credentials and the hosts showed plenty of quality as Friday’s tie developed.
After finding space inside the Sacred Heart defence, Tolka found the net to ensure the sides were level at 1-1 during the interval. This left the game delicately poised moving into the second period with both teams feeling they had a realistic chance of coming away with the maximum points on offer.
However, having earlier missed a couple of gilt-edged chances, Tolka ultimately squeezed back in front with a well-worked second goal.
There was no questioning the industry of Sacred Heart and, with Stapleton and Farrell continuing to play with considerable energy and vigour, they remained in the hunt for a share of the spoils right up until the final whistle.
Tolka Rovers had that bit extra in the tank to come through a tough battle, but there was plenty of solace for Sacred Heart coach Peter Flood to take from his side’s performance on the night.
They have 17 games left to play in this campaign – including 11 on their home turf of Killinarden – and will be confident of picking up some good results along the way.