By Seamus Hayes
Bunratty last won a league title in 2009 when Noel Twomey and Stephen Russell were involved in the management of the team.
On Sunday at Lees Road, Bunratty/Cratloe were crowned 3rd division league champions thanks to an 8-0 win over Manus Celtic B.
Managing this year’s team are Patrick Twomey and Dean Russell, sons of Noel and Stephen.
This win means that they will play in the second division next season. Earlier this season they won the 3rd division league cup title and attention now switches to the upcoming Clare cup competition in which they will take on their neighbours, Bridge United A in the opening round.
Man of the match on Sunday was Darren Lindsay who scored six toals, the second coming from the penalty spot.
On a day when they led 3-0 at half time, the other goalscorers were Tom Purtill and Adam Harrington.
Bunratty/Cratloe; Andrew Lees; Raj Singh, Tom Purtill, Liam Hayes, Mark McPhillips; Sean Burke, Paudie Fitzgerald, Derek Maxwell (Capt), Dylan Kerr; Adam Harrington, Darren Lindsay;
Subs; Karl Fitzmaurice for McPhillips; Barry Long for Singh; Jim Houlihan for Fitzgerald; Richard Germaine for Burke; Conor Casey for Houlihan(inj);
In the only other third division game played on Sunday Fern Celtic travelled to Kilmihil and beat St. Pats by the odd goal in seven.
Inclement weather disrupts fixture schedule
Inclement weather at the weekend disrupted the scheduled Clare soccer fixture list greatly.
Due to the very wet weather a number of games in all divisions were postponed. Just two games took place in the premier league, just one in the first division and two in the third division while all games scheduled in the second division went by the wayside.
Newmarket Celtic A 4 Mountshannon Celtic 1
In the premier division champions Newmarket Celtic A kept their title hopes on track with a 4-1 win over Mountshannon Celtic at McDonagh Park
Daithi O’Connell, Ronan McCormack, Stephen Kelly and Paddy Purcell were the goalscorers for the winners while Mountshannon’s goal, which was the first of the day, came from William Glass
Newmarket Celtic; Shane Cusack; Paddy Purcell, Josh Orajuaba, Stephen Kelly, Darren Cullinan; Conor McDade, Dave McCarthy, Cathal Hayes, Alan Kelly, Daithi O’Connell, Ronan McCormack;
Subs; James Fahy for Orajuaba; David Lennon for C. Hayes; Cael Gaffney for Cullinan; Kieran McCoy for O’Connell; Dermot Gannon for McCormack
Mountshannon Celtic; Andy O’Dwyer; Sean Browne, Oran Scanlan Michael Barrett, Niall Dear; Martin Cunningham, Guy Vigurs, Ronan Dooley, Paul Burke, Ethan Madden, William Glass;
Subs; Ciaran Keenan for Madden; Luke Sugrue for Dooley
Lifford 1 Shannon Town A 1
Lifford put a dent in Shannon Town A’s title holes when holding them to a 1-1 draw at Cassidy Park
Lifford opened the scoring in the in the first half through Dylan Ryan and they held that advantage until near the end despite being reduced to ten men in the second half when Godsway Kuffour was dismissed on a second yellow card.
Town pressed strongly in the second period but despite having the assistance of a strong wind they could not break down the Lifford defence in which goalkeeper Rhys Phillips did well.
Shannon Town’s equaliser came from substitute Christopher Dunning just before the full time whistle.
Lifford; Rhys Phillips; Dan Daly, John Maher, Eddie Killeen, Michael Junaid; Paul Martin, Nathan Rezende, Gary McMahon, Godsway Kuffour, Dylan Ryan, Ruairi Norrby;
Subs; Jean Ganda for McNaboe; Josh Ryan for Norrby; Hamad Kuku for Ryan
Shannon Town A; Darren Whelan, Stephen Carroll, Alex Cole, Aidan Leahy, Brian Monahan, Jack Kelly, T. J. O’Dwyer, Gary O’Connell, Brian O’Connor, Kieran Hackett, Jack Ryan;
Subs; Cody Waller for Carroll; Liam Boland for Ryan; Ian Collins for O’Connor; Christopher Dunning for O’Dwyer
In the first division Tulla United conceded home advantage due to an unplayable pitch, travelled to Kilrush and beat Kilrush Rangers by 4 – 2. This win keeps their promotion challenge going.
Avenue and Ennis Town in FAI cup action
Two Clare clubs travel to Dublin this weekend in search of a place in the last 16 of the prestigious FAI junior cup.
Avenue United, the only Clare club to reach the final of this competition, going down to Cherry Orchard in 1990, will take on Yellowstone at 12 noon while Ennis Town will face Ballymun at 2p.m.
Both Dublin clubs will carry the favourites tags and Avenue and Ennis Town will have to be at their best if they are to be in with a chance of progressing to the last sixteen.
