Avenue too strong for champions

Avenue United A 3    Newmarket Celtic A 0

Avenue United A took a giant step towards the premier league title when they proved too strong for Newmarket Celtic A at Lees road on Sunday.

That the stakes were high was obvious from an early stage, with neither side giving an inch to their opponents. The winners were a goal ahead at the break after Mikey Mahoney scored following a Dave McCarthy cross. The holders battled back but they were unable to break down the Ennis side’s defence and when the half-time whistle sounded, the winners were 1-0 in front.

 

They piled on the pressure on the restart but the result was the same, as the Avenue defence held firm.

Ten minutes from the end, Mark Donlon picked up a second yellow card, which led to his dismissal. To add to their woes, Dave McCarthy then struck for Avenue’s second goal. They scored again shortly after this when Barry Nugent finished a David Herlihy delivery before Michael Crosby picked up a second yellow card to leave Celtic down to nine men.

Avenue United A: John Healy; David Herlihy, Mattie Nugent, David Russell, Eamonn O’Reily, Mark Roche, Alan Roche, David McCarthy, Mikey Mahoney, Barry Nugent, Colin Smith.
Subs: Scott Hennessy, Pa Wilson and Nicki Twumasai.
Newmarket Celtic A: Jason Casey; David O’Grady, Mark Donlon, Eoin O’Brien, Darren Cullinan, Alan Brigdale, Alan Kelly, Michael Devitt, Michael Crosby, Eoin Hayes, Daithí O’Connell.
Subs: Diarmuid Nash, Ronan McCormack and Ally McMillan.

Hermitage A 0    Mountshannon Celtic 0
A scoreless draw resulted when Hermitage A hosted Mountshannon Celtic on Sunday at the Fairgreen. The game was played in cold and wet conditions, making things difficult for the players.

The home side had, marginally, the better of matters in the first half but the game was still scoreless at half-time.

Both sides continued to give of their best in the second half but, for the most part, defences held firm and a share of the spoils was a fair outcome.

Hermitage A: David Phillips; Michael Culligan, Ritchie Fitzgerald, Tola Crowe, Rhys Philips, Ger Dullaghan, Matthew Kearney, Shane Talty, Johnnie Ferns, John Meagher, Eoghan Ryan.
Subs: Ritchie O’Grady and David Moloney.
Mountshannon Celtic: Colm Kavanagh; Nial Deere, John O’Brien, Martin McNamara, Pádraig Brady, Michael Scanlan, Paul Dooley, Cathal Moloney, Martin Cunningham, Michael Barrett, Michael Dooley.
Subs: Paul O’Rourke and Kilian McNamara.

Connolly Celtic A 4    Rhine Rovers 2
Connolly Celtic A came out on top when they hosted Rhine Rovers but the winners had to come from behind twice.

Jamie Ivors put Rhine in front but Kenneth Kennedy equalised before the break.

Early in the second half, Ivors was fouled in the area by Alan Markham and Kevin Johnston converted the penalty. Markham made amends five minutes later when he cracked a free-kick to the net to level the tie for a second time.

Connolly went in front when Mickey Byrnes scored and they sealed victory when Kenneth Kennedy had his second.

Connolly Celtic: Christy O’Loughlin; Greg Howard, Kieran Dillon, Ian Hassett, Alan Markham, Brian Connellan, Ronnie Meere, Ken Kennedy, John P Healy, Mickey Byrnes, Brendan Dillon
Subs: Bernard Field for Byrnes.
Rhine Rovers: Martin McInerney; Paul Johnson, Kevin Johnson, Brendan Quinn, Barry Ryan, Enda Malone, Jamie Ivors, Conor Hanrahan, Hamid Mahmodi, Gary Hogan, Jamie Fahy.
Sub: Joe Brigdale.

Tulla United A 1    Ennis Town Rock A 3
Ennis Town Rock A returned to winning ways when they proved too strong for Tulla A at the Cragg on Sunday.

Tulla opened the scoring when John  Brigdale was on target after being put through by Daragh Corry.
Gary Collins levelled for the winners before goals from Eoin Glynn and Joe Lynch sealed the points for the Ennis side.

Tulla Utd A: Darragh Kelly; Shane Mason, Padraic O’Malley, Brian McInerney, Denis Murphy, Darragh Corry, Niall Whelan, John Brigdale, Trevor Corbett, Colin Nelson, Sunny Jay.
Subs: Cillian Bane for Jay, Thomas McKeown for Nelson.
Ennis Town Rock A: Stephen Loftus; Gary Walsh, Jason White, Joe Lynch, Ronan Judge, Francis Daniels, Daryl Eade, Adrian Walsh, Gary Collins, Dean Gardiner, Eoin Glynn.
Subs: Ritchie Neylon for Judge, Niall McNevin for Collins and Mikey Dinan for Eade.