12/10/2026
Old Fort hosted Arlington this week in the Division 3 Shield Semi Final
From kick off Arlington had the greater share of possession, with their back line recycling the ball well but Old Fort were limiting any space for them to play through by dropping in and being very compact in the middle
Arlington looked the more threatening for the first 15-20 mins, with a few half chances created but ultimately nothing that was going to trouble Lee Smyth in the Old Fort goal
As the half progressed Old Fort grew into the game, holding possession a bit more and creating some good passages of play to get higher up the pitch but the final ball was lacking a bit of quality at times
A free kick for Old Fort was clipped into the box by Ben Langford around the half hour mark, into the path of Dylan Peters who was dragged to the ground by an Arlington defender to win Old Fort a penalty
The ever reliable Ryan Lynch who is on fire this season stepped up to take, and as usual coolly slotted the ball into the bottom corner to put the hosts 1-0 up
This seemed to give Old Fort a massive boost, and from Arlington’s kick off they won the ball back again straight away deep in their own half
A few passes between the Old Fort back 4 showed the composure they have on the ball, with the sequence then breaking out to Gunes Bingol at right back, he found Ben Lang in the middle who then found Stephen O’Brien on the right, O’Brien’s first time pass back into the middle to Ryan Lynch found him in acres of space. Lynch gets by an Arlington player before playing a through ball between the Arlington centre backs which set Byron McGuirk through on goal and from the edge of the box he chipped the keeper and found the top corner to spark massive celebrations for the home side and settle any nerves that may have been there earlier in the match
2-0 HT
The second half started the same as the first, with Old Fort happy to allow Arlington possession in their back line while cutting off any passing lanes through the middle
Arlington continued pushing forward in search of a goal to get them back in the game, but the centre back pairing of Jamie Carroll and veteran Conor Lewis were winning every aerial duel and cutting out any through balls on the ground, with Gunes & Cody Rochford dealing with anything that came down the flanks too
The midfield 3 of Ben Langford, Ryan Lynch & Byron McGuirk worked tirelessly in both the defensive side of the game as well as getting forward to support the attacks as well, with Cillian Friel doing the same on his wing
A substitution late in the game for Old Fort saw the introduction of Craig Lynch for Cillian and a change of formation to a 4-4-2, which had an almost instant impact
Within minutes of the change Old Fort broke again with O’Brien turning his marker in the middle of the pitch before running at the Arlington defence, he plays a pass through one of the defenders legs to find Craig making a run down the wing and his first time cross is whipped to the back post and picks out Dylan Peters who fires his shot into the back of the net to really put the game out of reach
Old Fort’s second change of the match saw the return of Ben Conroy from injury who slotted into the back line like he never left, winning a couple of aerial duels and some big tackles to help maintain the clean sheet for the hosts
Best on the day for Old Fort were: Jamie Carroll, Conor Lewis, Ben Langford, Byron McGuirk and Ryan Lynch
Match Ball Sponsors:
Smarttint
iRepair
Other sponsors:
Hughes Pharmacy
Molloy fuels
