Larne 0-1 Distillery: 07 Mar 1998
Distillery required an own goal to keep alive their outside hopes of
promotion against dogged Larne at Inver Park this afternoon.
Larne almost caught the visitors cold with an opening raid which saw Tom
McCourt target Peter Lowry's run to the far post before Jim McCloskey got
back with a headed interception.
Former Glentoran striker, McCloskey, then made his presence felt at the
other end with a neat diagonal ball into the path of Darren Armour, but Paul
Miskelly read the situation well.
The home goalkeeper was forced to adopt more desperate measures following a carbon copy
move by the Whites when he raced out of his area to tackle
top-scorer Armour close to the bye-line.
However, the visitors, with a degree of good fortune, scored from the
resulting 11th minute corner.
League table 
Bangor 1-0 Larne: 21 Mar 1998
It was new boy Alan O'Connor - signed just before the transfer deadline - who gave Bangor
victory with a neatly taken goal on 51 minutes.
The lively 20-year-old moved forward and kept his cool as he pushed the ball past the
advancing Miskelly from the edge of the area just inside the foot of the right hand
upright.
Bangor needed another goal to make the game safe but there was frustration for the
Seasiders when their best midfielder Michael Surgeon was right out of luck on 80 minutes.
Substitute Darren Erskine slipped the ball to the side and Surgeon swung round to
hit a rocket shot past keeper Miskelly, only to see the ball rebound off the right
hand and then left hand upright.
Larne tried gallantly, in a game which never reached any heights of
football, but their most dangerous player Mark Looney was too often
left on his own up front and the Bangor defence was always able to
crowd him out.
The visitors were dealt a blow on 18 minutes when midfielder Larry
McMahon had to leave the pitch after being injured in a tackle to be
replaced by new Larne signing Marcus Hill.
A good save by Paul Miskelly prevented the lively O'Connor from
opening the score on 23 minutes after fellow Dubliner Anto Brennan
had put him through.
Seconds later it was Niall Currie's turn to thwart Larne striker John
Loughlin who burst through Bangor's backline only for the keeper to
make a brave stop and take the ball off his toe as he closed in for
the kill. As the half progressed neither team was able to put together a move
to effect a breakthrough.
Team: Miskelly, Craig, O'Hagan, Muldoon, McKinstry, Taylor, Looney,
Lowry, Loughlin, McMahon, McDowell subs: Hill, Johnston, McCormick
Referee: Frank Harte (Newry)
Other Results
Carrick Rangers 0-5 Newry Town
Distillery 1-2 Dungannon Swifts
Limavady United 0-2 Ballyclare Comrades
League table Larne 1-0 Limavady: 28 Mar 1998
Chris McCready was dismissed as struggling Limavady suffered their third
defeat of the campaign at the hands of Larne.
Peter Lowry's goal enabled the Inver club to put a further three points
between them and United, the side immediately below them in the league.
The home side took the lead with a penalty after only two minutes after Tom
McCourt was upended by Neil Painter. Peter Lowry despatched the resulting
spot-kick low into the bottom corner.
Limavady had an opportunity eight minutes later courtesy of a strong
diagonal run and cut back from Thomas White, only for the unmarked John Law
to blaze over the bar.
The diminutive Lowry continued to unsettle the United rearguard and the
giant figure of Sean McCabe was happy to put anywhere a testing drive.
McCourt remained a threat with his well timed runs, one of which took him
onto the end of a long free kick from Marcus Hill but the ex-Glentoran
forward's looping header dropped onto the top of the goal.
A wonderful ball inside the full-back by former Newry midfielder Terry
Taylor deserved better than the rising strike on the run attempted by
Stephen McDowell 10 minutes into the second half.
Larne stepped up the pressure with Lowry's superb solo run taking him past
three men before rolling the ball into the path of Looney but once more
Platt anticipated the danger.
McCready lashed out at Lowry in an off-the-ball incident and was red-carded.
Team: Miskelly, Craig, O'Hagan, Muldoon, McKinstry, Taylor, Looney, Lowry,
McCourt, Hill, McDowell subs: Loughlin, Batholomew, Johnston
Referee: David Chambers (Belfast)
Other Results
Ballyclare Comrades 2-0 Carrick Rangers
Distillery 1-2 Bangor
Dungannon Swifts 1-1 Newry Town
League table
P W D L F A PTS
1. Newry Town ................24 17 4 3 51 16 55 (67)
2. Bangor .........................24 15 4 5 41 23 49 (61)
3. Distillery ...................... 24 13 5 6 44 28 44 (56)
4. Dungannon Swifts .........23 11 5 7 52 41 38 (50)
5. Ballyclare Comrades .....24 11 3 10 39 40 36 (48)
6. Larne ........................... 24 8 1 15 27 46 25 (37)
7. Limavady United ...........24 5 2 17 27 53 17 (29)
8. Carrick Rangers ............23 2 2 19 16 50 8 (20)
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