*Gary O’Connell takes down Eoin Hayes. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
AVENUE UTD and Newmarket Celtic both maintained their unbeaten status in the Maloney Hardware Premier Division after finishing all square in a cagey top of the table tie on Sunday afternoon.
Newmarket Celtic 0
Avenue Utd 0
Venue: McDonough Memorial Park, Newmarket-on-Fergus
Clare’s top two sides could not be separated in their latest clash, they both struggled to create scoring opportunities over the course of ninety minutes but will be quietly happy with the final outcome.
This was the first league clash of the sides since Adrian Walsh and Alan Gough succeeded David Russell and Eoin O’Brien respectively at the helm of Avenue Utd and Newmarket Celtic.
Walsh has subtly put an emphasis on blooding new talent and putting his stamp on the Avenue side. This has resulted in a lack of continuity in their lineup from week to week with Dylan Casey surprisingly omitted from their starting eleven for this derby tie.
Having failed to set the world alight this season, Avenue produced one of their better of the season if not best league performance to date. They may not have won but facing their strongest opponents in a month they also didn’t lose and it’s an important result for them following the disappointment of their early Munster Junior Cup exit.
It may not be the main focus for Gough since arriving in Newmarket-on-Fergus but there is a tougher element to their side aided by Kevin Harnett’s more regular presence in the middle of the park and the return to the club of Darragh Leahy.
Neither side created sufficient chances, this has been a frequent part of Avenue’s season as they still find themselves struggling to fill the major void left by Steven McGann, Mark Roche, Jack Dunleavy all of whom offered a flair to their attack. Elias Kunz who is still recovering from injury continues to be a huge loss, his missing goal threat is sorely felt by the Ennis club.
Hindering Newmarket’s ability to come close to scoring was their set-up. They failed to pepper their attack of Leahy and Eoin Hayes with any meaningful supply of possession and didn’t have enough bodies up near them to try cause problems. The delays in adding fresh legs also hurt the Celtic cause, they made just three subs over the hour and needed to reinvigorate their approach in the second half.
An immediate flashpoint saw Luke Woodrow handle the ball outside the box resulting in a yellow card and calls for a Newmarket penalty. It may have suggested that the game was going to be a heated affair but thankfully there was no such scenes that blighted their encounters in Roslevan of recent years.
Woodrow made saves from Hayes and Leahy in the opening half while the experienced Hayes came close just on the approach of half time when Nathan Boaventura passed to but the shot just tailed wide.
An important intervention saw Gary O’Connell foul Hayes on thirty one minutes, he picked up a yellow card for his challenge, a necessary one as the striker would have been through on goal so the hosts could argue that the punishment did not match the crime.
At the other end, the best chances of the half fell to captain Conor Mullen, he headed wide when getting to the end of an incoming free kick on twenty eight minutes. Another cross presented a big chance but Conor Finnucane’s cross was met at the back post by Ger Myles who failed to hit the target. Ronan Kerin had their last chance of the half when heading the ball over the crossbar on thirty seven minutes.
On the restart, Avenue were forced to shuffle the decks when centre-half Seán O’Callaghan was injured by his goalkeeper Woodrow. The netminder came from his goal to clear the ball but ended up injuring his defender who was substituted straight away, Newmarket medic Martin Cooney assisting Avenue at this stage in a nice sporting gesture.
Dean Hegarty a half-time substitute for Newmarket had their only real chance of the second half, when doing well to maneouvre a move which was stopped on sixty one minutes.
Avenue’s turn to look for a penalty arrived on sixty seven minutes when Ronan Kerin was fouled. Resulting verbals from their sideline saw referee Pa Gleeson book manager Walsh, on the recommendation of linesman Brian Punch.
Substitutes added a bit of life for Avenue. Dylan Casey had a shot headed away by Harvey Cullinan on sixty nine minutes while Shane Cusack was on alert to snap the ball away from a Ryan Corcoran opportunity on seventy three minutes.
Newmarket Celtic: Shane Cusack; Éanna Crimmins, Tadhg Noonan, Harvey Cullinan, Conor McDaid; Jack Kelly; Kevin Harnett, Aaron Rudd, Nathan Boaventura, Eoin Hayes, Darragh Leahy.
Subs: Dean Hegarty for Nathan (HT), Cian McDonough for Noonan (65), Gary Leahy for Leahy (85),
Avenue Utd: Luke Woodrow; Gary O’Connell, Conor Mullen, Seán O’Callaghan, Jamie Roche; Eoghan Thynne; Conor Finnucane, Nnabuike Nneji, Jack Ryan; Ronan Kerin; Ger Myles.
Subs: Dylan Casey for O’Callaghan (50) (inj), Ryan Corcoran for Myles (63), Ryan Mahony for Ryan (64), Jack Joyce for O’Connell (67).
Referee: Pa Gleeson.
All photographs by Gerard O’Neill.
