GALLERY: Celtic lead, but it’s tight at top of Clare league

Newmarket Celtic and Avenue United continued their winning ways as the pair picked up 5-1 wins over Tulla United and Kilrush Rangers respectively.

Meanwhile, Bridge United were held to a draw against a resurgent Shannon Town as Mark Colbert’s side saw their winning start to the league come to an end.

Coole FC moved up to fifth place after their second league win on the bounce as they defeated a Mountshannon Celtic side who are still searching for their first points of the campaign.

Newmarket Celtic moved two points clear at the top of the Maloney Hardware Premier Division with a big win over Tulla United. The league leaders struck twice in three minutes during the opening half with Eoin Hayes and Darragh Leahy finding the target.

Tulla Utd’s Craig McNamara is tackled by Eoin Kelly from Newmarket Celtic. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Tulla Utd’s Emmet Lynch steers the ball past David O’Grady of Newmarket Celtic. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Tulla Utd’s Darragh Corry wins the aerial battle with Darragh Leahy of Newmarket Celtic. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Newmarket’s Eoin Kelly heads the ball to safety while being shadowed by Tulla’s Ian McNamara. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Harvey Cullinan skilfully drags the ball back to sidestep a challenge from Tulla’s Ian McNamara. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Eoin Hayes of Newmarket Celtic drives past Tulla’s Darragh Ryan. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Newmarket’s Darragh Leahy tries to bring the ball under control while being closely shadowed by Raymond Bane of Tulla Utd. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Newmarket’s Harvey Cullinan tries a shot from distance. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Ian McNamara of Tulla Utd shields the ball from Newmarket’s Darragh Leahy. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Newmarket’s Harvey Cullinan and Eoin Kelly attack a crossed ball before Diarmuid Molloy of Tulla Utd. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Tulla Utd goalkeeper Simon Kilker wins a crossed ball under pressure from Darragh Leahy and Harvey Culling of Newmarket Celtic. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Darragh Corry of Tulla Utd denies a scoring chance to Darragh Leahy of Newmarket Celtic. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Fionn Ryan makes a perfectly times tackle to win the ball from Eoin Hayes of Newmarket Celtic. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Newmarket’s Harvey Cullinan sends goalkeeper Simon Kilker the wrong way to score from the penalty spot. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Newmarket’s Darragh Leahy crosses the ball ahead of Darragh Corry’s challenge. Photography by Eugene McCafferty Newmarket Celtic 5 Tulla Utd 1

Mike Moloney’s side hit back when Dara Ryan netted after Newmarket failed to deal with a corner. Newmarket Celtic led 2-1 at half time before their strength in depth helped them power to another big victory.

When Eoin Hayes’ cross was handled in the box, Harvey Cullinane stepped up to bury the penalty to the net.

The league leaders didn’t allow their opponents back in to the game again as Eoin Kelly made sure of the win when netting Newmarket’s fourth. Jashar Aliu rounded out the scoring as Newmarket
Celtic are the only side to have won all four of their Maloney Hardware Premier Division games with their quest to recapture the league title starting in ideal fashion.

Avenue United picked up their third league win on the spin as they secured a 5-1 win over Kilrush Rangers. The scoreline does not tell the tale of what was an extremely competitive tie before Avenue’s greater experience shone through.

Kilrush Rangers produced arguably their best half of football in the first 45 as they frustrated the defending champions for large spells. However, the newly promoted side ran out of steam late on as Avenue took full advantage.

Nneji Nnabuike helped Avenue in to a 1-0 half time lead with Kilrush’s Trevor Clancy denied by Paul Roche just before the break. Conor Mullen and Eliaz Kunz both found the target for Avenue in the final period with Conor Hehir’s double sealing the win.

Despite reducing their arrears to 2-1 after Danny Clancy scored Kilrush Rangers were consigned to defeat as Avenue showed their class up front.

Bridge United dropped two points as Shannon Town produced a gutsy display to secure a1-1 draw. Mark Colbert’s side opened the scoring through Paul Corry after 15 minutes but despite being on top, they were unable to find the second goal.

They were punished for this when Shannon Town equalised just before the break through Brian Monaghan after Natty Nyakujara provided the assist. The second half saw both sides create chances with neither content with just a solitary point.

However, Luke Woodrow and Eoghan Casey both produced assured displays in goal for their respective sides as neither team could find the breakthrough in the second half.

Coole FC secured their second successive league win as they defeated Mountshannon Celtic 5-1. Last year’s First Division champions picked up their second successive league win after a difficult start to the season.

Coole FC shipped heavy defeats to Newmarket Celtic and Avenue United but have since settled in to life at the top table of Clare soccer.

Fergus Tuohy’s brace alongside goals from Adrian Oliveira, Jason O’Brien and Nathan Smith moved Coole FC up to fifth place while Cathal Doyle’s strike wasn’t enough to help Mountshannon Celtic avoid their fourth league defeat in as many games.