Late Westport winner breaks KK hearts
All eyes on the ball: Westport United and Kiltimagh/Knock United await the ball coming into the KK penalty area. Picture: John Corless
Adam Nugent’s 88th minute winner was a cruel blow for an industrious Kiltimagh/Knock United side that deserved something from Saturday evening’s Super League game.
Both sides had chances and Westport played the better football, and had more possession. KK stayed compact and dogged, and Westport couldn’t get the better of them until Nugent’s strike.
“It was heartbreaking to lose it, at the end,” KK captain, Ronan Malee told the after the final whistle. “We thought we’d see it out to be honest, but we had a last minute winner last week, (in Manulla) and we were on the wrong end of it this week. While this would have been a great point, that’s football. We just have to move on.” Both sides fielded new players. The hosts gave a debut to right back, David Owusu, who joined from Ballyhaunis Town during the week, and former Castlebar Celtic goalkeeper, James Robinson, started for Westport.
Cillian Mooney might have opened the scoring early on, but Robinson held his ground in the one-on-one. At the other end, Jack Dawson’s header forced a save from Niall Walshe.
Eight minutes in Westport took the lead. When the KK defence pushed out, Cian Halpin got in behind to drive past Walshe. Five minutes later the sides were level, when Malee got on the end of a Darryl McNamara pass.
Teams at the wrong end of the table can be brittle, however, and a minute after equalising, KK were in arrears again when Halpin powered home Mark McDonagh’s cross. To their credit, they kept battling despite the ominous threat of Halpin who shot wide, and Aaron Cannon, whose deft flick was saved by Walshe. And then at the other end, ex-Cloonfad United man Conor Flynn was set-up by Robert Jordan to level it again on 37 minutes.
Westport were more composed in the second half, but struggled to make their superiority count where it mattered. They were frustrated by Malee and Jordan in the middle, and the central defensive pairing of Joe Glynn and Matty Leadbetter. Dylan O’Malley threatened on a few occasions, and Jack Dawson and Halpin were unlucky too.
The introduction of Nugent and Darren Browne on 78 minutes freshened-up Westport’s attack and Nugent threatened early. At the opposite end, Malee saw and heard his long-range drive rebound off the bar.
Nugent and Flynn traded efforts to find a winner, until the young Westport target man nicked it near the death. Browne applied the pressure on Leadbetter, who tried his best to clear the danger. Nugent was first to react to the loose ball, and sealed the three points with a fine shot.
Walshe, Jordan, Malee and Simon Byrne were best for KK. Noah Massey was Westport’s best on an evening while Halpin, O’Malley and McDonagh also shone.
“We have a huge game coming up against Claremorris,” Malee said. “Hopefully, we’ll have some of our missing players back because that’s a massive one for us and for them.” Noah Massey described it as ‘a tough game’.
“We probably made harder work of it than we should have,” he said. “We had a few chances in the first half and next thing it was two-two. I think we got a better flow in the game when we brought the subs in. Adam got a nice goal at the end to win it. We will try and win every game now and finish as strongly as we can, for the season.” A minute’s silence was observed prior to kick off, in memory of Ballinrobe goalkeeper, Umar Shafiq, who tragically died in a road traffic accident in Pakistan, during the week.
