After a couple of weeks of cup action the Premier Intermediate League (PIL) was back on Saturday with ten of the twelve teams being in action. We start at Seaview were we have a new side holding up the foot of the table.
Newington Youth Club 0 Moyola Park 3
Both sides went into this game missing various players due to injury, suspension and unavailability but Newington started the game strongly none the less and Moyola keeper Ben McCauley had to be on his toes on more than one occasion. Despite this early pressure it was the visitors who broke the deadlock when Tomas McCann found himself clean through on goal and finished past Dean Smyth in goal. Newington had a couple of efforts from range through Padraig Scollay and Joe McDonnell but neither effort from range gave McCauley too much trouble. It was 2-0 after 56 minutes when McCann was brought down inside the area after cutting inside and Tiernan Rafferty sent the keeper the wrong way from the penalty spot to score his 14th goal of the season. Moyola put the game to bed 5 minutes later when Nicky Hudson headed home a McCann free kick. Moyola took advantage of Banbridge not playing as they move ahead of them into 4th place on goal difference, while Newington slip to the foot of the table.
Donegal Celtic 2 Queens University 1
DC moved off the bottom of the table on Saturday with this much needed home win over Queens University, DC had plenty of chances in the first half with their former keeper Declan Brown coming back to haunt them with some crucial saves but the game remained scoreless at the break. DC must have thought it wasn’t to be there day when they had Emmett Templeton sent off with a straight red card and the pendulum suddenly swung in favour of Queens, who opened the scoring when Matt McManus finished off a good team move. It wasn’t long until the sides were back on level terms though when Declan Monaghan scored from the penalty spot after substitute Robbie McVarnock was brought down. Queens continued to edge the game but couldn’t break down the DC backline and when they did they found Sean McIlhone in fine form and late on in the game a counter move from DC seen the ball come to McVarnock who curled the ball into the top corner to hand DC the win. This defeat and results elsewhere sees Queens drop a place to 3rd in the table.
Dundela 5 Sport & Leisure Swifts 1
Dundela are now sitting second in the table, a point behind Lisburn Distillery, after this convincing win against Sport & Leisure Swifts at Wilgar Park on Saturday. The Swifts have now fallen out of the top half of the table, albeit only on goal difference, after this defeat. With just one defeat so far this season and 19 goals scored, as well as only 6 conceded (fewer than any other side in the league) Dundela are still looking like they could be the team to beat this season.
Portstewart 2 Annagh United 0
After winning two in a row Annagh have now lost two in a row and are now sitting in 11th place and lead Newington only by goal difference. Last time out Portstewart went down 7-0 against Queens and hadn’t won a league game since the opening weekend of the season so this will certainly be a welcome three points for the Seahawks who have moved themselves up to 8th place in the table, the bad news for the north coast side is that their next league game is against the aforementioned ‘team to beat’ Dundela.
Tobermore United 3 Lisburn Distillery 0
After starting the season like a house on fire with four league in a row firing them to the top of the table, three defeats in their last five games have seen their lead at the top reduced to just one point after Saturday’s game. Tobermore scored their opening two goals late in the second half when Stephen Lamont and Ryan Doherty were able to take advantage of defensive mistakes from the Whites backline. The Whites have come back from 2-0 down and won twice already in the league this season but any hopes of another comeback were quashed just a few minutes after the restart when Neil Lamont found himself clean through on goal and scored after Jonah Nicholl had kept out his original effort. This result means Tobermore take Sport & Leisure’s place in the top half of the table.
There’s another weekend of no PIL action this week due to the Intermediate Cup taking place but we’ll be back with our roundup on the 25th November.