Kesh 3 Ardstraw 1
Kesh made it two wins from two games with a 3-1 victory over newly promoted Ardstraw.
Kesh went two goals ahead midway through the first half with strikes from Josh Flack and a Gary Henderson penalty, and a Jake Irvine goal early in the second period gave them a three goal cushion, with Steven Campbell’s reply proving to be only a consolation.
Kesh assistant manager Shane O’Brien felt they were deserving winners against a team that had come into the game having not lost in either of their two opening fixtures.
“It ended up being a comfortable win for us,” said O’Brien. “Between a lot of our missed chances and their keeper playing well it should have been more, but they never gave up.
"Once they got their goal it gave them a lift and they were coming at us, but we defended really well and there wasn’t any stage in the match when I was really worried.
"They huffed and puffed but they didn’t cause us too much concern. I thought we needed to freshen up the legs in midfield to keep them at bay.
"We were hitting them on the counter and had some great chances that you would put your money on going into the back of the net, but we will take the three points and keep going.
"We will just take it one game at a time and see where it takes us.”
Kesh had put five past Killen in their opening fixture, and it took them only 12 minutes to get among the goals again.
A Gary Henderson ball to Flack was headed into the path of Danny Wilson. The winger advanced on the keeper, and although Jack McFarland smothered his initial effort, Wilson recovered to pull the ball back for Flack who made no mistake from the edge of the six-yard box.
Flack was also instrumental in Kesh’s second, getting to a cutback before the Ardstraw defence and being taken down inside the penalty area.
Henderson sent the keeper the wrong way from the penalty spot to double Kesh’s lead.
Two minutes into the second half Kesh went further ahead. A corner was only partially cleared and Nathan Cashel’s drag back deceived three Ardstraw defenders.
He squared the ball for Jake Irvine, and although he fluffed his first kick, the ball bounced back off the defender and he made no mistake at the second attempt.
Ardstraw pulled a goal back just before the hour mark when TJ McMulkin did not get enough distance on a punch and Campbell fired the loose ball past him into the net, and Kesh held firm against some Ardstraw late pressure to maintain their 100 per cent record at the start of the season.
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