Brave Fingal pay heavy price for sluggish start

MANAGER Liam Buckley’s pre-match wish of keeping it tight and hoping to score first never materialised as Sporting Fingal bowed out of Europe at Dalymount Park last night.

Trailing 3-2 from the first leg in Madeira, Sporting needed to start confidently. But in contrast to their composed display in the first half in Madeira, they appeared nervous from the start, as Maritimo went at them from the opening whistle, almost scoring inside the first minute.

By the time Maritimo did go ahead from a penalty on 20 minutes, they’d created three other chances. And it got little better for Sporting as Maritimo, oozing confidence, went further ahead midway through the second half.