PETER Shilton allowed nothing to spoil his “grand day out” as he marked his 1,000th league appearance with a clean sheet and three points.
The 47-year-old Shilton, who made his first appearance, for Leicester against Everton, more than 30 years ago became British football’s first millennium man as he clocked up the astonishing milestone for Leyton Orient against Brighton.
DOWN slumped to their second successive defeat at Pairc an Uir Newry as Offaly came from behind in a lacklustre Hastings Cup U21 football competition to snatch a 1-6 to 0-7 victory five minutes from time with a most fortunate goal from Roy Malone.
In a low-key game it was Down’s lack of forward power plus a struggling display at midfield which were the main causes for this defeat.
Apart from Simon Poland who tried hard at midfield it was the big Offaly pair of Kieran McManus and Adrian Mahon who dictated matters in the middle of the park.
KILLEAVY are the odd men out in the semi-final line-up for the Greengate Ulster minor football tournaments at St Paul’s Complex, Shaw’s Road, in Belfast this week.
The Armagh champions are the only one of the four teams left in the competition to have previously won the Jimmy McConville Cup.
And they have been made slight favourites to collect the trophy again on New Year’s Day. Killeavy will clash with Castleblayney in the second semi-final on Friday while, 24 hours earlier, Donegal champions Four Masters, from the county town, will battle it out with Ballinderry.
ST PAUL’S completed a unique double, the first ever recorded in Antrim, when they embellished their senior football championship crown with the reserve title after defeating Sarsfield’s 2-6 to 0-8.
Adrian Gallagher and Brian Quinn ruled the roost at midfield where this victory was engineered with Jim Hughes strong in defence and Tony Crean sharp in attack.
A SENSATIONAL three-pointer by Karl Donnelly on the final buzzer gave Star of the Sea a vital win over Notre Dame at Tallaght in the Budweiser Super League on Saturday night.
The shot-of-the-season gave Star an 88-85 win that didn’t seem remotely possible a few minutes earlier. And the fact that Donnelly looked a non-starter only hours before the game added to the fairytale result.
Coach Danny Fulton missed the excitement because of illness and Donnelly also reported ill on Saturday morning. But the UUJ student beat off the sickness and proved to be the hero at the bitter end.
STUART Pearce got off to a dream start as Nottingham Forest’s caretaker manager thanks to Alfie Haaland’s double strike and a moment of madness from Ian Wright.
Haaland’s second goal two minutes from time secured Forest’s first home league win of the season and raised hopes for the relegation battle ahead.
But it was Wright’s unnecessary sending off with 20 minutes remaining which put Arsenal on the slippery slope towards defeat when a victory would have seen them regain top spot from Liverpool.
