*Eoin Hayes knocks the ball ahead of Brian Monaghan. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE CUP holders Newmarket Celtic advanced to the quarter-finals with a merited victory over neighbours Shannon Town Utd on Sunday morning.
Newmarket Celtic 2
Shannon Town Utd 1
Venue: McDonough Memorial Park, Newmarket-on-Fergus
Darragh Leahy scored both goals in either half for Celtic as they qualified for the last eight of the Ennis Carpets Clare Cup with the experienced Eoin Hayes on hand for both assists.
Originally fixed for Lynch Park in Shannon, the game was moved to Newmarket-on-Fergus with Shannon Town conceding home advantage to allow the Cup tie proceed.
Newmarket made hard work of this tie and didn’t take all the chances that came their way. They will need to be more clinical when facing stiffer opponents in the upcoming Munster Junior Cup semi-final plus the start of their FAI Junior Cup campaign.
Leahy opened the scoring on seven minutes when finishing an Eoin Hayes cross to the net. The striker was pulled for being offside on three occasions during the tie, one such instance saw him add to his tally only for referee Mark Reilis to disallow the goal.
Kieran Mahony’s return to Newmarket Celtic strengthens their attacking options. He was lively on the left flank and linked up well with Leahy. One such example occurred ten minutes into the game, Leahy touched the ball down to Mahony he hit a precision cross to midfielder Kevin Harnett who had his effort denied by Gary O’Connell.
Jamie Doyle on the opposing left flank had his chances to pull back an equaliser for Shannon Town, he was denied by a Shane Cusack save on seventeen minutes and in a goalmouth scramble minutes later, he failed to connect with the ball in a costly mistake.
Cusack was on alert and dominant for everything that came his way. He also made a tremendous pass to Mahony who found Leahy only for the Shannon native to be pulled for offside.
A wasteful element crept into Celtic’s play with Eoin Hayes and Éanna Crimmins both missing efforts that should have added to their tally. In the last act of the half, full-back Brian Monaghan cleared a Kevin Harnett shot off the line following a cross from Hayes.
Before this, Shannon Town were wronged when referee Mark Reilis failed to award a penalty to Charlie Morrison. Left-back Cathal Cullinan was guilty of fouling the midfielder inside the box and took him down but no spot kick was awarded, depriving the visitors a chance of forcing an equaliser right on the stroke of half-time.
Hayes and Leahy combined to double Newmarket’s advantage on fifty eight minutes, adding a further blow to Shannon Town.
Dean Hegarty was introduced just after the hour mark and he had two chances saved in quick succession.
Another penalty call was missed when Hegarty was brought down by Fionn McInerney on sixty seven minutes with a late challenge in his first involvement.
Showing how proper tackling is done, Tadhg Noonan was on hand to dispossess Morrisson with a well-timed manoeuvre when Shannon Town worked the ball up field.
It resulted in a throw which Shannon Town then ended up winning a corner out of. Substitute Kai Khetan took the corner which Cody Waller got a head to, pulling a goal back for Shannon Town as they exposed poor marking in the Celtic defence.
For the winners, Leahy, Mahony and the Cullinan cousins, Harvey and Cathal did best.
Shannon Town will be disappointed as they need a decent Cup run to try bring this team to the next level considering their struggles to move beyond mid-table in the Premier Division.
Newmarket Celtic: Shane Cusack; Éanna Crimmins, Tadhg Noonan, Harvey Cullinan, Cathal Cullinan; Jack Kelly, Conor McDaid, Kevin Harnett, Eoin Hayes, Kieran Mahony, Darragh Leahy.
Subs: Dean Hegarty for Mahony (62), Gary Leahy for Leahy (71), Aaron Rudd for Hayes (71), Cian McDonough for McDaid (71), David McCarthy for Harnett (71).
Shannon Town: Gary O’Connell, Cody Waller, Aaron Shinners, Steven Carroll, Brian Monaghan; Cian Johnson, Luke Keating, Charlie Morrison, Jamie Doyle; Ben Keating, Eoghan Gough.
Subs: Kai Khetan for Doyle (53), Sean Aylmer for O’Neill (53), Colin Curran for Keating (53), Fionn McInerney for Monaghan (66), Kieran Hackett for Johnson (66).
Referee: Mark Reilis
