Injury time heartbreak for Newmarket Celtic

Janesboro 1 Newmarket Celtic 0

For the second time in two weeks Newmarket Celtic have had to deal with the disappointment of being knocked out of a prestigious cup competition at the semi-final stage.

Two weeks ago they wend down 3-2 to Pike Rovers in the semi-final of the FAI junior cup and this afternoon they lost out to Janesboro in the semi-final of the Munster junior cup at the Limerick club’s venue.

Making this latest defeat all the harder to take is the fact that the game’s only goal came two minutes into ‘injury time’ and just as supporters were preparing for extra time.

Niall Hanley scored the all important goal which will see Janesboro face their Limerick neighbours Pike Rovers in the final next month.

While Newmarket had been under some pressure in the opening half, they had enjoyed the better of matters in the second period when they came close to breaking the deadlock on a few occasions.

The absence of Dave McCarthy due to illness(he did come in for the final five minutes) and the loss of central defender Stephen Kelly to injury were major blows to Newmarket’s chances. Kelly suffered a leg injury early in the second quarter and while he battled on until early in the second half he, clearly, was struggling.

Newmarket showed three changes from the side which started against Pike Rovers. Darren Cullinan, Ian Collins and Cathal Hayes were in the team this afternoon in place of Seamus Lawlor, McCarthy and the unavailable David Reidy.

Janesboro made the better start and troubled an somewhat shaky Newmarket defence on a few occasions in the opening quarter but the best chance of the first half fell to the visitors but Tino Nzvaura saw his header go inches over the top.

With the assistance of the wind in the second half, Newmarket did most of the attacking but they just could not break down a solid Janesboro defence. The home side protested strongly midway through the second half when they weren’t awarded a penalty, the match official opting to issue a yellow card to Shane Clarke for ‘diving’. The referee had taken a similar stand a short time earlier when producing yellow to Newmarket’s Eoin O’Brien.

In the end Hanley’s injury time strike won the day for Janesboro and Newmarket will now concentrate on the domestic scene and their challenge to complete another league and cup double over the coming weeks.

Janesboro; Jon Mulready; Ryan Doherty, Stephen Bradley,Tom Clarke, Aaron Hanley; Niall Hanley, Aaron Nunan, John Tierney, Shane Clarke; Keith Mawdsley, Adrian Power.

Subs; Danny O’Neill for A. Nunan; Alan Harkin for Power; Lee O’Meara for Tierney (inj).

Newmarket Celtic; Shane Cusack; Colin Smythe, Darren Cullinan; Stephen Kelly, Paddy Purcell; Colin Ryan, Tino Nzvaura, Ian Collins, Eoin Hayes; Cathal Hayes, Eoin O’Brien;

Subs; Seamus Lawlor for Kelly (inj); Daithi O’Connell for Ryan; Dave McCarthy for C. Hayes; Alan Brigdale for Collins.

By Seamus Hayes