*Dean Hegarty and Darragh Leahy celebrate. Photograph: Joe Buckley.
NEWMARKET CELTIC put a serious dent in Bridge Utd’s Premier Division title aspirations while also securing their return to joint top of the table.
Newmarket Celtic 3
Bridge Utd 2
Venue: McDonough Memorial Park, Newmarket-on-Fergus
Both sides finished with ten men following the dishing out of straight red cards in the final furlong of the tie.
A week on from struggling to create chances against Avenue Utd, there was no shortage of shots on goal from Newmarket Celtic who despite dominating the opening half found themselves to be on level terms when the sides retreated for the break.
Dean Hegarty’s first Premier Division start of the season saw him play a central role on the left wing for Newmarket Celtic. The first quarter may have passed the Kilnamona man by but once he got into his groove so did Celtic and he caused immense problems down the flank and even finished with two goals to his credit.
Hegarty was involved as Celtic created three chances in the space of ninety seconds, the last of which saw them break the deadlock when his shot got beyond three Bridge players and then net minder John Mulready after Eoin Hayes did tremendous work to dispossess Jack O’Halloran.
Prior to this, Hayes had a shot deflected out for a corner while an excellent move involving Hayes, Hegarty and Aaron Rudd saw Hegarty’s show saved by Mulready.
There was a bit of bite to proceedings considering the local derby element. One such instance saw Filip Mostowy produce a very late tackle on Harvey Cullinan with twenty three minutes played where he was lucky to avoid a yellow card. Twelve minutes later, Mostowy found himself in the referee’s notebook with Darragh Whyte soon following him for a foul on the increasingly threatening Hegarty.
Four chances on the bounce for Newmarket saw them fail to double their tally with two from Hayes and one each from Darragh Leahy denied by the crossbar and another from Hegarty.
Lacking the clinical edge at this juncture, Newmarket paid the price with Bridge Utd managing to force an equaliser in the last attack of the half and their first decent opportunity in half an hour. An excellent delivery from Darragh Whyte found Jack O’Halloran on the right flank and his cross fell to Filip Mostowy who was alert and effective to finish to the net. He had been denied by an excellent Shane Cusack save in the first quarter.
Within ten minutes of the restart, Newmarket Celtic were back ahead. Eoin Hayes was taken down with a late challenge prompting Brian Punch to point to the penalty spot with Hegarty on hand to finish to the net.
Bridge Utd upped the ante and looked like getting back on level terms again. Mostowy hit his shot over the crossbar, Witness Odirile’s impact off the bench brought new life and a well-timed Cian McDonough tackle stopped him in his tracks to concede a corner when the risks of a goal were high.
From the corner, Cusack was once again called upon, this time stopping a Mostowy effort with his legs, Odirile again creating the chance for the visitors.
An excellent finish from substitute Nathan Boaventura helped Newmarket weather this storm. He had a well-taken shot get beyond Mulready after McDonough picked him out with a nice pass on seventy nine minutes.
Concentration completely dipped from the hosts as Bridge Utd brought the ball straight from the tip off to the back of the Celtic net. Filip Mostowy took off with the ball, then played it out wide to Dean Neary and his delivery was finished by Conor Whelan.
This made matters much tenser than they had to be for Newmarket in the final stretch. Any bit of momentum that Bridge Utd had of forcing a draw took a blow when centre half Alan Mulready was dismissed on a straight red card when he was the last man back and took Eoin Hayes down with eighty one minutes played.
(All photographs by Joe Buckley)
Substitute Gary Leahy got his marching orders on ninety four minutes but was still able to make the trip to Lahinch to line out for Newmarket Celtic’s second string.
After already losing to Tulla Utd, a second defeat in the league before Christmas has greatly reduced the chances of Bridge Utd winning the Premier Division. Their squad depth has been weakened departures in the off-season even though new additions such as Adam Fitzpatrick and Conor Whelan have been effective. They have lost to two of the big four and have deferred their clash with Avenue Utd to the start of 2026.
Offensively stronger in this outing, Newmarket Celtic created more chances and were more threatening, Dean Hegarty’s prominent role serving as no coincidence for this change. At the back, Harvey Cullinan and Tadhg Noonan were solid once again with Kevin Harnett and Eoin Hayes also standing out.
Newmarket Celtic: Shane Cusack; Éanna Crimmins, Tadhg Noonan, Harvey Cullinan, Conor McDaid; Jack Kelly; Kevin Harnett; Aaron Rudd, Dean Hegarty; Eoin Hayes; Darragh Leahy.
Subs: Nathan Boaventura for Rudd (HT), Cian McDonough for Crimmins (46) (inj), David McCarthy for Hayes (84), Gary Leahy for Leahy (86)
Bridge Utd: John Mulready; Darragh Whyte, Alan Mulready, Liam Flynn; Scott Kirkland; Kyle Kirby, Adam Fitzpatrick, Brian Corry; Jack O’Halloran, Filip Mostowy; Conor Whelan.
Subs: Witness Odrile for Corry (64), Caleb Lategan for Kirby (66), Dean Neary for Scott (67).
Referee: Brian Punch
