Avenue United will carry Clare hopes in the last sixteen of the Munster Junior Cup thanks to their 3-1 win over Youghal at Lees Road on Sunday.
A 2-0 away win to Yellowstone in Dublin a week earlier means that they are Clare’s only remaining team in this season’s FAI Junior Cup having qualified for the last sixteen in that competition also.
Ennis Town and Shannon Town both bowed out of the Munster competition on Sunday when they went down to Cork opposition. Ennis Town finished at the wrong end of a seven goal tie away to Avondale while Shannon Town lost on a 1-0 scoreline away to Carrigaline B in Cork
Avenue United extend winning run
Avenue United 3
Youghal (Cork) 1
Venue: Lees Rd, Ennis
Tomás Hehir put the winners in front on the half hour mark before two quick goals in succession midway through the second half sealed their passage to the last sixteen.
Substitute Philip Talty scored in the 75th minute and two minutes later team captain Dylan Casey curled a left footed free kick to the top right hand corner.
It’s back to domestic action this weekend as Avenue entertain Ennis Town at Roslevan on Sunday morning at 11am in the premier league.
Avenue United: James Tierney; Cullen McCabe, Conor Mullen, Dylan Casey (Capt), Jamie Roche; Stephen Jordan, Alan Roche, Eoghan Thynne, Mark Roche; Elias Kunz, Tomás Hehir
Subs: Philip Talty for Kunz (65); Dylan Barry for A. Roche (79); Shane Brown for J. Roche (78); Gary Roche for Hehir (82); Mikey Dinan for Thynne (85)
Avondale’s late rally ends Ennis Town’s dream
Avondale (Cork) 4
Ennis Town 3
Leading 3-1 with ten minutes remaining, Ennis Town looked set to be in the last sixteen of the Munster Junior Cup but Avondale put in a strong finish which yielded three goals in fourteen minutes to send the Clare side home empty handed.
Goals from Eoin and Davy Keenan helped the visitors to a 2-1 interval lead. Davy Keenan struck again early in the second half to put his side two clear and this was the position with ten minutes remaining.
Avondale pulled one back and the score stood at 3-2. Ennis Town attacked but a great move ended with an effort rebounding off the post.
With the game in the final minute of normal time the Cork club levelled and everything now pointed to extra time.
In the fourth minute of ‘injury time’ Avondale struck again and their fourth goal ensured that they would progress while leaving Ennis Town to rue what might have been.
Ennis Town; Aidan Jordan; Stephen Horgan, Eoin Keenan, Johnston Munumkum, Sean Perrill, Conor O’Halloran, Thomas Collins, Dean Hegarty, Donal O’Halloran, Yashir Aliu, Davy Keenan;
Subs: Jason Cussen for Hegarty; Conor Meaney for D. O’Halloran; Ultan Shields for Horgan; Peter O’Brien for Collins;
Shannon Town bow out in game of few chances
Carrigaline B (Cork) 1
Shannon Town 0
A galeforce wind and driving rain made conditions very difficult for Shannon Town in this tie with Carrigaline.
Because of the difficult conditions, there were few scoring opportunities. After a scoreless first half, the home side broke the deadlock ten minutes into the second half.
Ten minutes from time the visitors had a chance to draw level. Substitute T.J. O’Dwyer’s shot on goal was spilled by the home side’s goalkeeper but the inrushing Christopher Dunning who had also been introduced failed to control the ball in the greasy conditions
Shannon Town; Darren Whelan; Cody Waller, Darren Griffin, Colum Treacy, Brian Monaghan; Rob Wall, Jack Kelly, Gary O’Connell, Brian O’Connor, Kieran Hackett, Jack Ryan.
Subs; T. J. O’Dwyer for R. Wall; Liam Boland for Waller; Chris Dunning for J. Ryan
Domestic schedule cancelled:
The inclement weather of the past weekend resulted in the cancellation of the full programme of games scheduled by the Clare league.
These included three preliminary round ties in the Clare Cup, all of which have been re-scheduled for this weekend.
