Due to Irish Cup 5th round fixtures on Saturday there were only three fixtures in the Bluefin Sport Premier Intermediate League on Saturday, with some of the bottom half teams hoping to take advantage of other teams being out of action.
Armagh City 1 Donegal Celtic 0
Armagh have been quietly climbing up the table in recent weeks and Saturday’s home win against Donegal Celtic made it four wins in a row and also seen them climb into 5th place in the league, only five points behind 1st place. There were few goal scoring opportunities in Saturday’s game but it was Armagh who took theirs when it came along when James McKenna scored after 13 minutes following some good linkup play between himself and Neda Maciulaitis. DC pushed hard for an equaliser late in the second half but City were able to hold out for the three points, DC remain precariously in 10th place.
Banbridge Town 1 Newington Youth Club 0
Newington have now picked up 1 points from the last 21 available to them and although they still lead bottom side Annagh by two points they have played two games more than their fellow relegation strugglers. Banbridge scored the only goal of the game when Joe Todd’s effort was parried away by the visiting but only as far as Conor Downey who fired home the rebound. After a couple of bad result this makes it two wins in a row for Town who move up to 4th in the table and have a game in hand over Lisburn Distillery who sit directly above them.
Tobermore United 3 Sport and Leisure Swifts 3
Sport and Leisure snatched a last gasp draw in the highest scoring game of the day against Tobermore at Fortwilliam Park on Saturday. Tobermore took the lead after 5 minutes when Swifts striker Stephen O’Neill forgot what end he was at and put the ball into his own net. Aaron Campbell then doubled United’s lead before O’Neill went some way to redeeming himself by pulling a goal back after 15 minutes. Ryan Whiteside restored Tobermore’s two goal lead and the score was 3-1 when the sides went in for the break. The Swifts weren’t beaten yet though and get themselves back into the game, albeit with a touch of fortune as this time it was Tobermore player Dean Brown’s turn to score past his own keeper. Tobermore looked like they were going to hold on for the win but in the 3rd minute of added time Stephen O’Neill popped up to snatch a last gasp equaliser and complete his ‘hat-trick’.
This Saturday sees a full programme of PIL fixtures with the fixture list looking as follows:-
Donegal Celtic v Moyola Park
Lisburn Distillery v Tobermore United
Portstewart v Sport and Leisure Swifts
Queens University v Dundela
Annagh United v Banbridge Town
Armagh City v Newington Youth Club