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Quinn Hits Hat-Trick In Daingean’s Magnificent Seven

Thursday, 22 December 2011

Daingean Town 7.
Portlaoise B 2.

DAINGEAN Town FC hosted Portlaoise in a CCFL Division 3A clash that was as unpredictable as the weather in Sutherland Park last Sunday week.
Portlaoise were favourites, and started the day joint second, whilst Daingean were languishing seven points below them in eight.
The visitors started the game well and looked as good as their league position suggested, but it was Daingean who took the lead in the seventh minute when full back Paddy Duffy received the ball in his own half, before moving down the wing and sending in a sublime cross which was met by Kevin O'Reilly to nod in.  
O'Reilly had made the run from deep but it was the accuracy of the cross that opened up the Portlaoise defence.
It was another off the ball run by O'Reilly that lead to Daingean's second when his excellent movement in the box was too much for the Portlaoise defence, and the whistle was blown for pulling of the jersey in the box.
Conan Curley stood up to take the penalty and was relieved when the keeper's hand wasn't enough to stop the shot and it crossed the line to make it 2-0 to the home side with only 17 minutes on the clock.
Daingean were obviously fired up and were well up for the game, when in the 28th minute Kevin O'Reilly played a speculative ball over the top for Keith Quinn to run on to. 
The Portlaoise keeper made it to the ball first but Quinn didn't give up hope and was there to capitalise when he spilled the ball for the easiest goal he'll score this year.
Daingean ended the half well going close again through Keith Quinn just before the break. The half time whistle signalled the end of a half where hard work down the wings by Conan Curley and Thomas Morrissey paid off and a 3-0 score line reflected the run of play fairly.
The second half was started well by Portlaoise who were chomping at the bit, and they didn't take long to convert their new found energy into goals.
A fine header in the 48th minute put them right back into the game and this seemed to be only the start of things to come.
Within two minutes of reducing the deficit they nearly doubled their efforts only for the referee to disallow it due to an offside decision much to the disappointment of the travelling bench.
A hectic first ten minutes was rounded off when Tucker Morrissey rounded two opponents in midfield before putting a perfectly weighted through ball that matched the run of Keith Quinn who just avoided being caught offside.
If the set up was all down to Morrissey, the goal was all down to Quinn who took the ball into his run and rounded the keeper before slotting home from 12 yards out, to restore Daingean's three goal advantage.
This seemed to knock the wind out of Portlaoise's sails as it was only six minutes later when Morrissey collected a ball from Stephen Burns out wide on the right before racing down the wing and crossing to Quinn in the middle to convert to complete his hat-trick.
Portlaoise to their credit never gave up and in the 65th minute they capitalized on some hesitation in the Daingean defence and some fine play from the winger resulted in a goal when he cut inside and launched a 25 yard shot that sailed past Joe Stapleton in the home goals to make it 5-2.
Keith Quinn continued his form and changed from scorer to provider when he rounded the keeper and selflessly squared the ball for Kevin O'Reilly to tap in for his second of the day to make it 6-2 with 20 minutes to play.
After heavy rain and a hard fought intense game the pitch was deteriorating badly and this reflected heavily in the midfield as Stephen Burn and Alan Daly had to dig deep to keep control of a game that was in danger of going out of control as the mud was having more of an effect as the match went on.
With 15 minutes left Daingean made changes, with Aidan Dunne replacing Tucker Morrissey, and Paul O'Rourke coming on for Keith Quinn who had run himself into the ground.
It was the two subs who combined to work well through the middle and resulted in Aidan Dunne chipping the keeper sublimely to put Daingean in seventh heaven just before the final whistle. 
A final score of 7-2 was a fair reflection of the performance of Daingean who had massive performances from Tucker Morrissey, double goal scorer Kevin O'Reilly, and man of the match and hat-trick hero Keith Quinn.

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