*Stephen Kelly headed home for Newmarket Celtic. Photograph: Oliver Fitzpatrick
Newmarket Celtic registered an important win to maintain their title aspirations on Sunday overcoming neighbours Shannon Town while the spoils were shared in an Ennis derby.
Newmarket Celtic A 2
Shannon Town A 1
Venue: McDonough Memorial Park, Newmarket-on-Fergus
Newmarket Celtic A moved back to the top of the premier league table with this victory over Shannon Town at Newmarket on Sunday. The sides are now level on points The sides are now level on eighteen points, Avenue Utd are in third position with sixteen points and six games played compared with Celtic’s seven and Shannon Town’s eight.
The game was entertaining and competitive as both teams knew that the points were important as the season approaches the halfway point.
Shannon went in front in the thirtieth minute when they were awarded a penalty for a foul in the area, Colin Scanlon took the spot kick and shot low to Shane Cusack’s left.
Ten minutes later Newmarket equalised when Stephen Kelly rose high to head a corner from the left to the net.
Minutes later both teams were reduced to ten men when Eoin Hayes and Colin Scanlon were sent off following a clash in midfield.
In the second half, Newmarket were on top for long periods, and had the Town defence under pressure. They were rewarded in the 55th minute when Daithi O’Connell out paced the defence to shoot to the net.
Town keeper Darren Whelan went off injured and was replaced by Shane Russell who had to make a couple of excellent saves to keep them in the game, one in particular when he turned a goal bound effort by David McCarthy over the top.
At the final whistle Newmarket were delighted to take the points, and to show that they will not give up their title without a fight.
Newmarket Celtic A: Shane Cusack; Dave O’Grady, Stephen Kelly, Eoin Kelly, Eoin O’Brien; Cathal Hayes, Kevin Hartnett, Eoin Hayes, Dave McCarthy, Aaron Rudd, Daithi O’Connell;
Subs: Gearoid O Brien for A. Rudd(inj); Ronan McCormack for Hartnett (inj); Cael Gaffney for O’Brien (inj); Gary Higgins for G. O’Brien; David Lennon for McCarthy.
Shannon Town A; Darren Whelan; Aidan Leahy, Colum Treacy, Darren Griffin, Stephen Carroll; Kieran Hackett, Rob Wall, Gary O’Connell, Brian Monaghan, Colin Scanlan, Rory Hayes;
Subs: Shane Russell for Whelan; Brian O’Connor for Carroll; Ben O’Neill for Wall; Charlie Morrisson for Hayes;
Mountshannon take control in second half
Mountshannon Celtic 3
Shannon Olympic 0
Venue: Scariff
Paddy Fitzgerald (2) and William Glass were the goalscorers as Mountshannon Celtic defeated Shannon Olympic in this league tie at Scariff on Sunday.
The first half was scoreless but the home side took control after the break and their winning margin could have been greater such were the opportunities they created.
Mountshannon Celtic: Andrew O’Dwyer, Ben Harrington, Eoin Scanlan, Niall Deer, William Kavanagh; Michael Barrett, Martin Cunningham, Ronan Dooley; Simon Ball, Paddy Fitzgerald, William Glass
Subs Niall Minogue for Harrington; Oscar Bogenberger for Cunningham; Stephen Hayes for W. Kavanagh
Shannon Olympic; Zsolt Lagos; Neil Hyde, Benjamin Cantillon, Rob Clair, Ciaran Keane, Matt Cheliminiak, Sean McDonald, Ross O’Connor, Rachid Amallah, Jay Regan, James Harty;
Sub: Zbigniew Barszczynski for Zsolt Lagos
Spoils shared in Ennis derby
Ennis Town 1
Lifford 1
Venue: Lees Rd, Ennis
Ennis sides Lifford and Ennis Town shared the spoils when they clashed in this premier league game at Lees Road on Sunday.
Lifford took the lead ten minutes before half time when Ethan Cronin scored and they held this lead until just after the hour mark when Donal O’Halloran levelled for Ennis Town who struggled to re-produce the form they had shown in their winning run in both the Munster junior and FAI junior cup competitions in recent weeks.
Ennis Town: Andrew Skerritt; Declan Ensko, Stephen Horgan, Sean Perrill, Thomas Collins; Eoin Keenan, Conor Meaney, Yashar Aliu, Lee Clohessy, Donal O’Halloran, Davy Keeenan;
Subs; Robbie Gormley for D. Keenan; Jason Cussen for E. Keenan; Dean Hegarty for Meaney; Paddy Bugler for Gormley; Emmanuel Ikiebey for Ensko;
Lifford: Rhys Phillips; Josh Ryan, Michael Junaid, Eoin Walsh, John Maher, Ethan Cronin, Jean Ganda, Dean Coughlan, Nathan Rezende, Eddie Killeen, Matthew Davenport;
Subs: Gary McNaboe for Ryan; Dylan Ryan for Killeen; Niall Guinnane for Rezende; Darra Madrigal for Walsh.
