North Down 3rd XI edge past Saintfield in tight local derby

North Down Mens’s 3rd XI made the short trip to neighbours Saintfield on Friday night to take on their 2nd XI. North Down started well controlling the game and were in the lead 1–0 at the break thanks to a well-taken goal from Mark Shannon after Nik Mckimm initial effort was saved by the Saintfield keeper. IN the 2nd quarter, North down made good use of space moving the ball across the pitch to unlock the Saintfield defence. Both teams displayed disciplined defending, with tight marking making space hard to come by for both sides.

The third quarter was tightly contested, with few clear-cut chances for either side. North Down resorted to the long ball too frequently leading to frustration at times. Both teams seemed to struggle with maintaining fluidity in their attacks during this period.

Shannon was unlucky not to double North Down’s lead early in the fourth quarter when his shot went narrowly wide. The chance came from a perfectly weighted defence splitting pass by Andy Walls , which put Shannon through on goal. The game opened up towards the end of the match and also became a little scrappy at times with both teams getting frustrated by some robust challenges.

Man of the match was Robin McMullan, whose work rate was impressive throughout the game. He covered the full length of the pitch, tirelessly running from 25 to 25, constantly offering support in both attack and defence. Also, some great performances from Daniel de Freitas and Tom Egerton who made a great senior debut.

North Down will be disappointed not to have scored a few more. Their attacking play showed promise but missed opportunities in key moments kept Saintfield in the game.

Thanks to Richard Bruce for umpiring