*Fiachra Roche clears his lines for Avenue Utd. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
AVENUE UTD, Newmarket Celtic and Tulla Utd have progressed to the fourth round of the Munster Junior Cup.
Eleven games across the First, Second and Third Divisions of the Clare District Soccer League (CDSL) fell foul to Storm Boelo but the three Munster Junior Cup ties proceeded.
Places in the last thirty two of the Munster Junior Cup were deservingly secured by Avenue Utd, Newmarket Celtic and Tulla Utd with their respective victories over Bridge Utd, Shannon Town Utd and Shannon Hibs on Sunday morning.
Avenue advance as Bridge bow out of another competition
Avenue Utd 3
Bridge Utd 2
Venue: Roslevan
Seventeen months on from when the sides clashed at a sunnier Roslevan for the Premier Division title decider to crown the league champions of the 2024/25 season, just eleven of the thirty one players that featured on that day were in action.
Cullen McCabe, Kuba Ruminowicz, Eoghan Thynne, Jack Ryan and Jamie Roche are the survivors from the fifteen Avenue Utd footballers that featured when they claimed the league. John Mulready, Liam Buckley, Liam Flynn, Lee Mulready, Scott Kirkland and Kyle Kirby are the Bridge Utd players still standing.
Personnel is not all that has changed for either club with diluted ambitions now a reality. Go back two seasons and both clubs had aspirations of making a mark outside the county, now Bridge Utd are out of both the Munster and FAI Junior Cups before Halloween.
An evenly matched opening half hour saw both sides struggle to break the deadlock. John Mulready was on hand to save from a Ryan Mahony free on five minutes while at the other end, Stephen McInerney was denied by the post and the ball then was just about kept out by Kuba Ruminowicz.
Avenue upped the ante with Jack Ryan’s influence beginning to grow. He forced a save from John Mulready with the next passage of play producing a wind-assisted corner from Ryan Mahony going to the back of the net after Mulready got a slight punch to the ball.
Ryan was getting joy bringing the ball down the left flank and this led to Avenue’s second goal when he brought play down this side and cut in along the end line before tucking the ball past Mulready to make it 2-0.
Kyle Kirby pulled back a goal for Bridge Utd in additional time. He got onto a breaking ball, producing a top corner finish to give the visitors a lift before the break.
Indeed there was plenty of additional time with referee Michael Rock playing a total of fifty five minutes in the first half.
It would take until additional time in the second half for more goals to arrive, Jack Ryan finishing a penalty to the net on ninety one minutes with Bridge Utd getting a consolation goal at the other end, Scott Kirkland having an almost identical goal to Ryan Mahony as his corner went all the way to the back of the net.
Jack Ryan was the standout player over the course of ninety minutes. Injuries saw Avenue lose Eoghan Thynne and Kevin O’Connor before half time which unsettled them somewhat. Far from a convincing display, the main objective for Avenue was to advance and Adrian Walsh’s charges did that.
Another elimination before the festive season is a setback for Bridge Utd who already can pinpoint fitness as an area to work on if they want to be a side in contention for the business end of the competitions outside of the county. Stephen Ogundare started well at right back while Lee Mulready was consistent over the ninety minutes for the Sixmilebridge side.
All photographs by Gerard O’Neill.
Avenue Utd: Kuba Ruminowicz; Cullen McCabe; Jamie Roche, Johnson Mununkum, Kevin O’Connor; William Bello; Eoghan Thynne, Darlington, Eoin Fox: Ryan Mahony; Jack Ryan.
Subs: Fiachra Roche for Thynne (36) (inj), Jason Cushen for O’Connor (41 (inj), Ryan Corcoran for Fox (65), Leo Johnson for Darlington (85)
Bridge Utd: John Mulready; Stephen Ogundare; Liam Buckley, Liam Flynn, Luc Fitzpatrick; Scott Kirkland; Alan Mulready; Stephen McInerney, Lee Mulready; Kyle Kirby; Ronan Tuohy.
Subs: Paul Tuohy for J Mulready (HT) (inj),Darragh Whyte for Ogundare (71) (inj), Darragh Ruane for A Mulready (74), Cian Brennan for Tuohy (83).
Referee: Michael Rock.
Newmarket Celtic sail past Shannon Town
Newmarket Celtic 3
Shannon Town Utd 0
Venue: McDonough Memorial Park, Newmarket-on-Fergus
Newmarket Celtic navigated their way through to the fourth round of the Munster Junior Cup when overcoming Shannon Town Utd as expected.
Though it wasn’t until the three quarter stage of the tie that Newmarket wrapped up proceedings, their superior strength had them in control and at little risk of a shock exit.
Alan Kelly opened the scoring on sixteen minutes for the hosts who had substitutes David McCarthy and Darragh Leahy to thank for trebling their lead and securing their passage to the fourth round.
This is a Newmarket Celtic side brimming with experience whereas the lack of seasoned heads is hindering Shannon Town who of course had their former full-back Cody Waller lining out at right back for their opponents.
All photographs by Joe Buckley
Newmarket Celtic: Shane Cusack; Cody Waller, Harvey Cullinan, Liam O’Connor, Conor McDaid, Jack Kelly, Nathan Boaventura, Alan Kelly, Harry James, Dean Hegarty, Kieran Mahony.
Subs: Darragh Leahy for James (HT), David McCarthy for Mahony (54), Cian McDonough for A Kelly (64), Ryan Kelly for McDaid (73), Messiah Chirwa for J Kelly (80).
Shannon Town Utd: Kyle McInerney; Jakub Setkwoicz, Jamie Doyle, Orainn McInerney, Aaron Shinners, Eoghan Gough, Liam Keating, Aidan Buckley, Kai Khetan, Seán Aylmer, Charlie Morrison.
Subs: J Kelly-Pike for Morrison (26), Kyle Corcoran for Buckley (65), R Regan for Keating (77), J Richter for Khetan (82), Jan Zmija for Setkowicz (85)
Referee: Pa Gleeson
Strong start takes Tulla through
Tulla Utd 3
Shannon Hibs 1
Venue: Riverside Park, Shannon
Travelling to Shannon, Tulla were fully aware of the threat posed by Shannon Hibs who were fresh from dumping Bridge Utd out of the FAI Junior Cup.
Keen to avoid a repeat scenario, they took the ascendancy early on and they didn’t look back from here, with three goals inside the opening twenty two minutes.
Once again Daragh Corry had a big role to play for Tulla Utd emerged victorious. Corry scored twice with both assists from Seán Withycombe while the experienced striker set up Cormac Hale for their first goal.
Darren Lindsay converted a penalty on thirty one minutes for Shannon Hibs.
All photographs by Joe Buckley
Tulla Utd: Greg Austin; Fionn Ryan, Éanna Culloo, Adam McNamara, Dara Ryan, Adam Kilker, Cormac Hale, Dan Withycombe, Mikey Moran, Daragh Corry, Seán Withycombe.
Subs: Ayoub Aguerram for Moran (53), James Wallace for Hale (75), Daragh Baker for Corry (76), Fiachra Hale for S Withycombe (80), Conor McFadden for D Withycombe (83),
Shannon Hibs: Greg Pyke; Adi Adeniyi, Kevin Hanley, Alex Cole, Pa Devanney, Zyggle Wall, Liam Delaney, Shashikant Shinde, Darren Lindsay, Donal Óg Harrington, Cian Austin.
Subs: Chris Dunning for C Austin (23), Josh Lindsay for Shinde (HT), Thomas Purtill for Cole (62), J D’Arcy for D Lindsay (91).
Referee: Gavin O’Donnell
