Dynamo, the Portlaoise outfit, had been in flying form lately and their upward graph continued to spiral skywards at the weekend with a fear-inspiring slaughter of an understrength St. Aengus side.
Dynamo Town 9
St Aengus 1It was clear early on for a battling Saints side that no happy endings would be found at Portlaoise Leisure Centre's pitch.
Time and time again Dynamo poured forward and only a combination Ian Gill
igan's inspired goalkeeping and some dogged defending kept Dynamo's advantage down to a mere two goals at the break. Alas for a fast-tiring Saints outfit the floodgates truly opened in the second half to send the Mountrath side home humbled.
Dynamo set down a marker from the off with a scintillating Danny Reddin run then shot that Saints' keeper Ian Gilligan was equal to. The Saints were slow to get motoring but their first attack saw Bernard Bland pull off a comfortable save to deny Enda Keenan.
The hosts responded with a Paddy Kelly header that was well saved by Gilligan. Then Phelan was played in but Gilligan denied him with a fine block. A Reddin free was blazed over as Dynamo turned the screw on their opponents. A lovely diagonal ball from Lawless forced Gilligan then to scramble off his line and smother the danger. Gilligan then denied Reddin yet again with a splendid save at the expense of a corner. Lawless floated over the resulting set-piece and Kelly was on hand at the back post to smash home his header. That opening goal after 20 minutes underlined Dynamo's superiority.
A flurry of St Aengus frees was all the Mountrath side could muster in this period. Dynamo kept up the pressure with a superb curling shot from Eoin Browne that smacked off the base of the right-hand upright and out of play. Then Gilligan denied Fennell and the keeper was almost immdeiately called into action to deny Lawless. All that pressure told on an increasingly tired Saints' rearguard moments later.
Great work out the field from Barry Dunne released Fennell into the danger area. The Dynamo midfielder made no mistake with his shot to double his side's advantage. The home side almost added to their tally minutes later but a screeching Reddin shot smacked off the crossbar and out of play. The Saints mustered the rare raid forward with Keenan prominent out on the left flank. His good work soon saw the visiting side awarded a free but Niall Holmes couldn't keep it on target. The last action of the half saw Phelan denied at the near post by an ever-alert Gilligan.
The concluding half was a veritable procession for Dynamo. A punch-drunk Saints side were there for the taking and the hosts went for the jugular. The home side introduced Liam Marum up front and pushed Lawless out to the right flank. This wing and Lawless in particular was to become a rich source of Dynamo goals as the half wore on. Marum had soon racked up a deserved third goal for his side.
