Institute leave it late again

The Drumahoe club had taken the lead thanks to Mark McFadden’s fourth goal in three games before Adam Mooney equalised, only for Brendan McLaughlin to pop up and nod home the winner, his second late goal in as many matches.

Donaghey was delighted that his players showed great character and resolve to go again after Mooney’s leveller and, more importantly, secure the points with another late goal.

“The boys’ work rate and desire was superb,” he stated. “There were definitely a lot of positives from the game. Unfortunately most of the goals we have conceded recently have either been an individual error or we have caused our own downfall and Saturday was another individual error. We need to get out of that habit if we want to become serious challengers but apart from that I thought we played well.

“Three wins out of three and the boys have been excellent, they really have bounced back after the Queen’s defeat.”

Another pleasing aspect of Saturday’s victory was the attacking threat that Ian Parkhill, Gareth Brown and Mark McFadden in particular brought throughout the game.

“We look as if we are going to score and even on Saturday, we had a lot of chances and possibly could have put the game to bed in the opening 30 minutes,” he said.

“Their keeper pulls off two or three great saves but at 1-0 you’re always worried as it’s so tight and anything can happen. Unfortunately at the start of the season half we made an error and they scored but the boys’ heads didn’t drop which is credit to them.

“We regrouped and kept passing and probing before finally getting our due rewards. We also had to change things about as Shaun Leppard and Conor Quigley both went off but I thought Jamie Dunne was excellent when he went back into left-back and young Patrick McLaughlin came on and steadied the ship when he came in.

“In fact, young Patrick just belies his years. His calmness reminded me of the golfer who won The Masters, Scottie Scheffler. Nothing fazes him and full credit to Patrick.”

The Institute manager was delighted to see his side keep going to the end and praised striker McLaughlin for again coming up with a late winner even if, as Donaghey admitted, the talented Donegal man can be frustrating at times.

“Look, whenever you are asking that many questions, I think their keeper made a few big saves and we hit the crossbar, then you deserve a bit of luck.

“Jamie puts in a great cross for the winner. He just flew it into the back post and that man Benny McLaughlin did it again late on for us.

“Benny’s input in goals and his work-rate is phenomenal. He gives the ball away too often for my liking but you have to forgive him for a lot of things because of what he does at the other end of the pitch.”

This weekend the Drumahoe club face second from bottom Queen’s University and Donaghey is expecting a tough test at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.

“Queen’s are a good side and they proved that a few weeks back when they came to us and won,” he explained.

“In fairness, it’s probably the only time in the last six matches that we never showed up and if we correct that, get back to what we have been doing over the last two or three weeks, then I think we’ll cause them problems as well.”