Willow Park had an unlikely hero last Saturday night when centre half Jack Quinn scored a late winning goal to see off the challenge from Pegasus at DPD Park in the Leinster Senior league. Having trailed to a goal midway inside the opening half, substitute Kevin Murray looked like he had salvaged a point for the home team late in the second half. However, with just two minutes remaining Willow captain Quinn struck for a winner that had earlier looked most unlikely to arrive.
The Dublin outfit had shocked Willow in the earlier fixture and looked set to repeat the dose as they dominated for long periods. Willow looked sluggish on home soil after three away League outings. Pegasus belied their lowly placing on the table and were full value for their half time lead. Julian Jordan had two early chances for the visitors as goalkeeper Dylan McGoey was called into action. Aaron O’Neill had the first home chance with Conor McCormack then having a free kick saved.
The first let off for Declan Holohan's men came after 19 minutes play. Shay King was a constant threat and crashed a shot off the bar. It no surprise then when an out of sorts Willow team went behind two minutes later. Sloppy defending was punished as King found the net with a low shot past the keepers left. A second could have followed moments later but this time McGoey came out on top by blocking the strikers shot. Two corner kicks was the home response which ended when Kieran McNally fired over. It was inconceivable that Willow would drop points at home to lowly opposition but at half time they were staring defeat in the face.
Murray was introduced for the second half and an amazing comeback started when he equalised 27 minutes into the half. An early corner was not built upon and Willow survived another scare after 54 minutes when the woodwork again came to their rescue. King once more was denied as his strike from the right crashed off the bar. King had a further chance which McGoey saved. Conor McArdle then fired wide for the visitors.
Willow were finally handed a lifeline when Claudio Silva and Benny Magennis linked up to create the opening for Murray. The substitute duly obliged as he skipped around the advancing keeper to find the net from the right. A point would have been some consolation after what had unfolded earlier for Willow but there was still further drama to follow.
Pegasus though remained dangerous and King somehow failed to find the net from a good position as full time approached. Willow took full advantage of all the let offs to pounce for the winner late on. Silva cleverly sent a free kick out to the left which was returned into the danger zone. The ball broke to Quinn who broke Pegasus’s hearts when he found the net through a ruck of players. It completed an amazing comeback from the home team.
