*Photos by Joe Buckley
AVENUE UTD were crowned Ennis Carpets Clare Cup champions for the fourteenth time, defeating rivals Newmarket Celtic after extra time in Saturday’s decider.
Avenue United 3
Newmarket Celtic 2
(after extra time)
Venue: Frank Healy Park, Doora
It was a win which was on the cards from the 40th minute when Newmarket Celtic were reduced to ten men after the influential Tadhg Noonan picked up a second yellow card which ended his involvement in the game.
Ten minutes before that the Ennis based side had taken the lead when substitute Ryan Corcoran scored following a Conor Finnucane free.
A goal down and a man down, things got worse for the reigning champions inside five minutes of the new half when Avenue doubled their lead, Jack Ryan finding the net.
Newmarket refused to accept defeat and showed just why they have been at the top in Clare soccer for so long when staging a great comeback.
Seven minutes of normal time remained when goalkeeper Shane Cusack’s free from inside his own half went all the way to the Avenue net. This lifted their supporters and the team and they almost levelled as the game went into injury time, substitute Gary Leahy’s header going inches wide.
The Shannon man didn’t have to wait long, however and with almost the last play of the game he got on the end of an Eoin Hayes corner to head home and send the Newmarket fans into celebration.
It was an end of normal time scoreline that few could have imagined ten minutes earlier.
Injuries were mounting up for Newmarket and they lost Kevin Harnett early in the first period of extra time.
To their credit, Avenue recovered and they piled on the pressure in extra time. Six minutes had been played in the second period when full back Dylan Casey latched on to a cross from the right and his powerful effort nestled in the bottom left half corner of Shane Cusack’s net for what proved to be the winning goal.
It was a merited win for Avenue on the evening but Newmarket played a huge part in a game which produced an exciting final half hour.
This final pairing was the one that most soccer fans in Clare wanted to see and this was reflected in what was one of the biggest attendances at a Clare Cup final.
However, the standard overall was disappointing and the game really only sparked into life with Newmarket’s fight back in the closing ten minutes of normal time.
The game was just ten minutes old when Avenue lost Ronan Kerin to injury. The loss of Noonan was a big blow to Newmarket who introduced Eoin Kelly to defence in place of Nathan Bonaventura as a result of Noonan’s departure.
It took a good save from Shane Cusack just before half time to deny Avenue a second goal.
They didn’t have to wait long for a second which came four minutes into the new half Jack Ryan shooting low to the net. Everything looked good for Avenue at this point but Newmarket weren’t going to go down easily and they showed remarkable fighting spirit from here to the end of normal time.
The game was hard fought throughout and almost got out of control as the teams went to the dressing room at the end of normal time as there was a sharp exchange between a small number of players and officials
Dylan Casey, Ethan Cronin, team captain Eoghan Thynne and man of the match Conor Finnucane played key roles in Avenue’s win while Shane Cusack, Harvey Cullinan, Jack Kelly, Kevin Harnett EoinKelly and Eoin Hayes were prominent for Newmarket Celtic.
Gallery of photographs by Joe Buckley
Avenue United; Luke Woodrow; Cullen McCabe, Dylan Casey, Ethan Cronin, Jamie Roche, Eoghan Thynne (captain), Conor Finnucane, Nnabuike Nneji, Ronan Kerin, Jack Joyce, Jack Ryan;
Subs; Ryan Corcoran for Kerin (10) (inj); Ryan Mahony for Joyce (50), Ger Myles for J. Ryan (70); Chucks Obadeyi for Corcoran (75) Owen Hadden for Myles (FT); Sean O’Callaghan for Obadeyi (84).
Newmarket Celtic; Shane Cusack; Kevin Harnett, Cathal Cullinan, Harvey Cullinan, Tadhg Noonan; Jack Kelly, Nathan Boaventura, Conor McDaid, Kieran Mahony, Eoin Hayes, Dean Hegarty;
Subs: Eoin Kelly for Bonaventura (39); Gary Leahy for McDaid (70), Kelvin Mulqueen for Mahony (74); David McCarthy for Hegarty (75); Cathal Hayes for Harnett (95) (inj)
Referee; Darius Mostowy
