Avenue bow out of Lions Cup

AVENUE United’s dream of retaining the National U-15 Lions’ Club Cup died on Sunday last at the County Grounds in Doora when they went down 0-4 to Salthill Devon from Galway in the semi-final.
A strong wind made matters difficult for both sides and the visitors had the assistance of the wind in the opening half.
Avenue defended well in the first quarter but the loss of the influential Lee O’Callaghan to injury with just under half an hour played, proved costly.
Play was held up for a while but on resumption, the visitors opened the scoring through Eanna Thompson who went onto register a hat-trick.
Early in the second half, Avenue piled on the pressure but failed to get through for an equaliser.
The Ennis side were dealt a major blow as the end of the third quarter approached when the visitors, somewhat against the run of play, struck for their second goal. This firmly swung the game in the Galway side’s favour and they went on to add another two in the final quarter and seal a place in the final.
The Avenue panel comprised Shane O’Connell, Evan McNamara, Lee O’Callaghan, James Woods, Barry Guilfoyle, Sultan Kasali, Ross McCarthy, Cian Crimmins, Rory Brennan, Sean Twomey, Brian Guilfoyle, Brian Colleran, Ciarán O’Halloran, Conor McInerney, Conor O’Brien, Niall Keane and Michael Moloney.