Irish League winning goal built on training ground - but not the way you think
Dungannon Swifts’ sole goal on Saturday was a product of the training ground – but not in the traditional sense.
A return by summer signing Kris Lowe to his boyhood club was celebrated for many reasons but far down the list of the 29-year-old’s attributes would be history in front of goal.
However, it was Lowe who produced the decisive moment at Shamrock Park on Saturday against Portadown with a free-kick routine far from the training ground even if manager Rodney McAree had a wry smile at a midweek conversation with Lowe that proved prophetic.
It was Lowe who fired home from a few yards out to cap an indirect free-kick awarded for a Portadown passback which Jamie Glackin initially slipped to Sean McAllister before a deflection took the ball into the path of a player not even expected in the penalty area.
“Unreal...I was giving him stick winding him up on Thursday night because I was saying he never scores and why doesn’t he score more goals,” said McAree. "And then he pops up and he scores with his weaker foot.
"I don't even know what he was doing in there to be honest because he's one of the ones that's supposed to stay back, so obviously Portadown brought everybody back at that stage so Kris thought he'd take a chance.
"I thought overall he was exceptional...really, really good.
"I'm delighted to see him score the goal and I'm delighted it turned out to be the winner.
"There's very little you can do (off an indirect free-kick), it's really you just move it and you hit it and you hope for the best.
"And, thankfully, the deflection comes to Kris and ends up in the back of the net.”
McAree’s praise turned from individual to collective when celebrating derby delight on the road.
"You have to give the players huge credit in terms of their fight and their determination and their want to get the three points and their want to keep a clean sheet,” he said. "We spoke about it at half-time, there was a corner-kick just at the start of half-time and Deccy (goalkeeper, Declan Dunne) come and collected it.
"And last season if we had been as dominant maybe as we were in the first half we would have conceded and you find yourself going in 1-1 and it's completely different.
“We spoke about that and, to be fair, he come and caught a couple in the second half.
"Danny Wallace, Kris Lowe, Barney (McKeown), Adam Glenny...as a back four done exceptionally well in terms of dealing with balls into your box.
“The only disappointment is that you probably make it a wee bit easier for yourself by taking one of the chances after you go 1-0 up.”
PORTADOWN: McCarey, Carson, Altintop, MacKinnon, Falls, Breen, Teelan, Scott, Hewitt, Flanagan, Martins. Subs: Barry, Isamala, Minzamba, Towe, Wells, O’Mahoney, Kennedy.
DUNGANNON SWIFTS: Dunne, McKeown, Mitchell, Glenny, Lowe, Gordon, Glackin, Doyle, Wallace, Bigirimana, McAllister. Subs: Henderson, McGinty, Kelly, Smith, Dillon, Alves, Uzokwe.