Rock shoot into last eight

THERE were no major surprises as round three of the Clare Junior Cup title race dominated proceedings in the local soccer scene last weekend. Burren’s win over Bunratty will be seen, by some, as a shock but Burren have been putting together some impressive results of late and they deserved their latest win.
Established sides such as Avenue United and Lifford were made fight all the way for victory. The remaining two quarter-final places will be filled this weekend when the meeting of Manus Celtic A and B at the County Grounds is sure to arouse a lot of attention.

Rock Rovers 1
Sporting Ennistymon 1
(Rock Rovers won 3-1 on penalties)

Rock Rovers advanced to the last eight in the cup title race when they overcame Sporting Ennistymon in a penalty shoot-out at Lees Road on Sunday.
Ennis side Rock got off to a great start with a Shane Daniels goal in the second minute but the sides were back on terms before half-time when Noel Mullane hit the equaliser for the North Clare side. Neither side could break down the opposing defence in the second half and this led to extra-time when defences continued to dominate.
In the penalty shoot-out, Rock Rovers were first up and Barry Woods saw his effort saved by Shane Keane. Ennistmon failed to take advantage as Rovers’ goalie Eric Murphy saved from Alan Sexton and he then saved their second when he denied Alan Horan, after David Ryan had put the Ennis men ahead. Niall McNevin was third up for the winners and he scored, as did Francis Daniels.
Mark Burke was the third kicker for the North Clare men and he gave them some hope when he scored but Paudie Fahy’s effort went over the bar and with it went Ennistymon’s hopes of progressing to the next round of the competition.

Rock Rovers: Eric Murphy, Craig Howard, Ronan Judge, Luke Coote, Shane Daniels, Rowan Eade, Daryl Eade, Jason White, David Considine, Niall McNevin, Barry Woods.
Subs: Ashley Glynn for White, Francis Daniels for Howard and David Ryan for D Eade.
Sporting Ennistymon: Shane Keane, Robbie McInerney, Caoimhín Fahy, Brian Sexton, Eoin Brennan, Alan Sexton, Alan Horan, Jason Sexton, Joe Dowling, Noel Mullane, Paudie Fahy.
Sub: Mark Burke for C Fahy and Lukas Piepkta for Mullane.

Moher Celtic B 1
Lifford 2

Lifford booked a place in the quarter-finals of the Clare Junior Cup but they were made fight all the way by a Moher B side that has struggled all season.
First-half goals from Lunga Balman after five minutes and Gary McNaboe midway through the half gave the winners a 2-0 half-time lead. To their credit, Moher battled hard and they were rewarded 10 minutes from time when John Stack scored.
However, they were unable to get back on terms and Lifford held on for victory.

Moher Celtic B: Noel Sexton, Brendan Vaughan, Declan Harvey, David Commane, Shane Ganley, Robert Lucas, Jack Queally, Declan Egan, John Stack, Pa Nagle, Ian White.
Subs: Ryan Guthrie.
Lifford: Colin Burke, Darren O’Neill, Hamad Kuku, Stephen O’Halloran, Ryan Boyle, Gary McNaboe, TJ Ajisomo, Liam Keane, Fabrice Baptista, Lunga Balman, Declan McMahon.
Subs: Liam and Declan Meaney.

Newmarket Celtic 4
Kilmaley Fern Celtic 0

Newmarket Celtic A comfortably won a place in the quarter-finals with a win over Kilmaley Fern Celtic. The scoring honours went to the Devitt brothers, with Michael getting the first and Kieran following with a hat-trick.
The first half was scoreless but Kilmaley’s challenge faded after the break and the fitter and more experienced Newmarket outfit took control.

Newmarket Celtic A: Trevor O’Donnell, Mark O’Malley, Michael Devitt, Liam Murphy, Dave O’Grady, John Paul Healy, Gary Browne, Eoin O’Brien, Michael Crosby, Kieran Devitt, Eoin Hayes.
Subs: Dave Ryan for Crosby, Seamus Considine for Healy and Gary Collins for Hayes.
Kilmaley Fern Celtic: Gerard Healy; Pat Sherlock, Alan Hehir, Seán O’Loughlin, Noel Healy, Jamie Mills, Phil Noonan, Conor Brennan, Gavin Cording, Joel Loemi, Mark Healy.
Subs: Adrian Kelly for N Healy.

Bridge Celtic A 4
Cratloe Forest 2

Bridge Celtic A came from two goals down to beat Cratloe Forest in their cup tie played at O’Briensbridge on Sunday.
The visitors scored twice in the opening quarter through Brian McMillan and Patrick O’Halloran.
Celtic were given hope when Trevor Howard pulled one back before the break and 10 minutes into the second half they were on terms after Paul McEvoy was fouled, leading to a goal from Ricky Mowatt.
Mowatt struck again 10 minutes later following a Ger O’Connell corner and O’Connell sealed victory a few minutes from time after good work by Kevin McEvoy.

Bridge Celtic A: Adrian Dhuig, William Slattery, Rob Seymour, Brian Barry, Trevor Howard, Barry O’Connell, Paul McEvoy, Shane Byrnes, Ricky Mowatt, Ger O’Connell, Peter Fitzmaurice.
Cratloe Forest: Aidan Browne, John Murphy, Shane O’Brien, Patrick O’Halloran, John O’Callaghan, Brian Phelan, Barry Gleeson, Damian Browne, Padraig Chaplin, Brian McMillan, Seán Hynan.
Subs: Seán Hayes, David Quinn and Michael Hawes.

Bunratty A 0
Burren Utd 0
(Burren Utd won 4-3 on penalties)

Both Bunratty A and Burren United created plenty of chances in 110 minutes of football but neither managed to find the net. Both goalkeepers, Gary McGettrick for Bunratty and Eric Cahilane were in fine form and produced some excellent saves on a day when Pat Nagle from the visitors saw his effort hit the upright with 15 minutes remaining, after he was put through by Martin McDonagh.
In the penalty shoot-out, Burren were first and Martin McDonagh saw his effort hit the crossbar but they managed to score the next four through Pat Nagle, Evan Talty, Seán Cormican and Kevin Danagher.
Burren’s goalie Eric Cahilane saved two penalties, Bunratty’s second from Ritchie Lillis and their last from Stephen Carroll. The Bunratty scorers were Con Collins, Jamie Cullen and Ryan Kelly.

Bunratty A: Gary McGettrick, Shane Purcell, Seán McDonald, Stephen Carroll, Gearoid O’Connell, Kieran Kissane, Daithi O’Connell, Jamie Cullen, Con Collins, Noel Collins, Ryan Kelly.
Subs: Terry Duggan for O’Connell, Declan McDonald for Kissane and Ritchie Lillis for O’Connell.
Burren United: Eric Cahilane, Kevin Danagher, Daniel Carey, Michael Keating, Marine Ghat, Dave Devanney, Pat Nagle, John McCormack, Seán Cormican, John McDonagh, Martin McDonagh.
Subs: Evan Talty for J McCormack and Conor Cormican for Ghat.

Kilkishen Celtic 1
Avenue Utd A 2

In the first of the third-round games, played at Kilkishen on Saturday evening, hot favourites Avenue United A had to work hard for victory.
The home side took an early lead through Mattie Holmes and this goal separated the teams at half-time. Indeed, Avenue were fortunate not to have been two behind at half-time. Early in the second half, the Ennis side equalised through David Herlihy and the winner came midway through the half from Seán O’Meara.
In the end, the experience and sharpness of the Premier League leaders proved decisive on a day when Mattie Holmes, Shane McInerney, James Hook and Colm Gleeson impressed for the home side.

Kilkishen Celtic: Jan Da Silva, Colm Gleeson, Mattie Holmes, James Hook, Damian O’Connell, Shane McInerney, Derek Canny, Jonathon Lyons, Michael Fleming, Alan McInerney, Brian Donnellan.
Subs: Patrick McInerney and Johnnie Cooney.
Avenue United A: John Healy, Mattie Nugent, David Russell, Simon Cuddy, Eamonn O’Reilly, Pa Wilson, David Herlihy, David McCarthy, David Smith, Sean O’Meara, Adrian McDonagh.
Subs: Barry Nugent, Mickey Mahony and Anthony White.