*Newmarket Celtic’s Nathan Boaventura. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
NEWMARKET Celtic extended their lead at the top of the CDSL Maloney Hardware Premier Division but the chasing pack of Bridge Utd, Avenue Utd and Tulla Utd are not relenting.
Across the weekend, Avenue had moved to third place on Saturday evening but by Sunday afternoon Tulla overtook them again.
As things stand, Newmarket Celtic are top of the table with thirteen games played and have 32 points. Bridge Utd are in second spot with ten games played and 27 points to their name. Tulla Utd are in third with eleven games played and have 25 points, Avenue Utd are in fourth with ten games played and are on 24 points.
Both Newmarket and Avenue were in action on Wednesday and Saturday where they claimed the maximum six points each.
Celtic overcame Lifford 4-1 in Drumcliffe on Wednesday, Nathan Boaventura scoring twice against his old club with Aaron Rudd and Dean Hegarty also on the mark while Lucas Silva scored for the hosts.
Over in Roslevan, Gary Roche fresh from celebrating his thirtieth birthday made a rare cameo for Avenue’s A side and scored two goals from the bench as they eased to a 10-0 win over Kilkishen. Captain Ronan Kerin bagged a hat-trick while Jack Ryan hit two with Conor Hehir, Owen Hadden and Dylan Casey all scoring, Casey also chipped in with four assists in a very facile victory.
Wednesday’s other encounters saw Tulla Utd pick up a 2-1 win in Lynch Park against Shannon Town. Daragh Corry and Ayoub Aguerram scored for the winners while Charlie Morrison registered Town’s effort. Bridge Utd maintained their winning run when securing a 9-1 win against Inch Crusaders, Scott Kirkland, Ger Myles and Brian Corry all scored twice with Liam Buckley, Filip Mostowy and Witness Odirile also getting in on the act.
Avenue Utd B claimed the Third Division on Sunday morning when recording a 3-0 win against Newmarket Celtic C, Gary Roche raiding for a hat-trick.
Tulla triumph over Kilrush to go back to third place
Tulla Utd 6
Kilrush Rangers 1
Venue: The Cragg, Tulla
Tulla Utd played some fine football in front of their home crowd on Sunday morning to move back up to third place in the Premier Division.
Though matters were evenly matched in the opening half, the hosts worked the ball better in the second half, Kilrush’s challenge also waned so too their concentration which allowed Tulla to pounce for five goals in the second half.
Daragh Corry opened the scoring on eight minutes with Kilrush coming close to nabbing an equaliser via Godwin Chigho approaching the half-time whistle.
Corry almost doubled his tally before the interval, he had not one but two shots in the one sequence from a corner kick but his efforts were just about kept out.
At half time, Kilrush would have rightly felt they were well in the game and capable of at least salvaging a point but such hopes quickly evaporated.
Within two minutes of the restart, an excellent ball from deep put Ayoub Aguerram through on goal, a superbly timed tackle from Simon Culligan stopped him in his tracks but Jashar Aliu was on hand to claim possession as it broke and he tapped the ball to the back of the net.
On fifty five minutes, they were three to the good when Daragh Corry volleyed home from a James Wallace cross.
Aguerram got in on the scoring act with sixty nine minutes on the clock, aided by a complete lack of concentration on Kilrush’s part, he was left with acres of space and flicked the ball over the head of opposing netminder, Harry O’Gorman.
As the rain began to fall in Tulla, Richard Gadjecki pulled a goal back for Kilrush as many spectators made the wise choice to watch the remainder of the contest from under the covered section of the clubhouse.
Substitutes made their mark for the hosts, Callum Casey chief among them, he had the assist for Aguerram’s second goal on seventy eight minutes and he had a wonderful strike when getting the sixth goal for Tulla in additional time.
Prior to this, both sides were reduced to ten men with Raymond Bane and Jack Cleary given their marching orders for an altercation.
For the winners, Jashar Aliu excelled and acted as a brilliant link-man over the course of ninety minutes with Ayoub Aguerram, Dara Ryan, Daragh Corry and James Wallace also impressing for Mike Moloney’s side. How they played in the second half, particularly with how they worked the ball calmly rather than rash clearances is the way for them to go when it comes to their upcoming Clare Cup semi-final versus Bridge Utd.
Inconsistency was evident in Kilrush’s display for this showing which is apt given that they have been guilty of such irregularity all season including when it comes to the personnel available for each game. Dean Neary and Norbert Kunicki did best for the West Clare side.
Tulla Utd: Simon Kilker; Fiachra Hale, Diarmuid Molloy, Dara Ryan, Adam McNamara; Denis Whelan, Eoin Hassett, Ayoub Aguerram, James Wallace.
Subs: Raymond Bane for Corry (63), Callum Casey for Wallace (63), Fionn Ryan for Hale (74), Sean Withycombe for Hassett (78), Adam Kilker for Whelan (78)
Kilrush Rangers: Harry O’Gorman; Robbie Burns, Sean Madigan, David Kinsella, Simon Culligan; Norbert Kunicki, Dean Neary, Jack Cleary, Richard Gadjecki, Dean Kinsella, Godwin Chigho.
Subs: Morgan Mescall for Burns (59).
Referee: Paudie Hayes
Avenue still in the fight for honours
Avenue Utd 3
Shannon Town Utd 0
Venue: Roslevan
They may be gone from the Clare Cup, FAI Junior Cup and Munster Junior Cup but Avenue Utd are far from out of the race so far as the Premier Division is concerned. After their capitulation in February and into the beginning of March, Avenue have steadied the ship and have put together five wins on the bounce in the top flight.
Their latest win was fully deserved but was much closer than their St Patrick’s weekend meeting with Shannon Town where they prevailed by four goals and had the tie wrapped up inside the first ten minutes thanks to Steven McGann.
This was tight for the duration of the first half, Jamie Roche finishing a well-taken volley on eight minutes after Conor Mullen won back possession for Avenue in the middle of the park.
A knee injury to long-serving Darren Griffin ended his involvement early in the first half but Shannon Town for the entire opening half kept the hosts on edge but they did gift up the ball on far too many occasions in this tie, they had a chance to level matters via Charlie Morrison on twenty minutes but they also could have fell further behind only for Ronan Kerin to be denied approaching the half hour mark.
Avenue showed their clinical edge and effectively put the game to bed, five minutes into the second half when captain Ronan Kerin got a flick to a fine delivery from Dylan Casey to make it 2-0.
David Hogan’s Shannon Town were much more spirited than their last showdown with the current league champions and they tried to pull a goal back but to no avail. Morrison had another effort while moments previously they had a run of three corners in quick succession.
Making a welcome return to action for Avenue following a knee injury was Steven McGann who brought an energy and attacking flair from the moment he was introduced. One such example saw him divert the ball straight to the right flank to Owen Hadden who crossed into the danger area but subsequent efforts from Nnabuike Nneji and Mark Roche came up short.
McGann collected Avenue’s third goal when flicking the ball over the head of goalkeeper Liam Cook on eighty six minutes.
Avenue Utd: Jakub Ruminowicz; Cullen McCabe, Conor Mullen, Dylan Casey, Conor Hehir; Jack Dunleavy, Nnabuike Nneji, Jamie Roche, Philip Talty, Jack Ryan, Ronan Kerin.
Subs: Mark Roche for J Roche (HT), Steven McGann for Talty (65), Eoghan Thynne for Dunleavy (65), Owen Hadden for Ryan (73), Mikey Dinan for Ronan (88).
Shannon Town Utd: Liam Cook; Cody Waller, Derek Byrne, Darren Griffin, Jamie Doyle; Aaron Kelly, Cian Johnston, Eoghan Gough, Kai Khetan, Luke Keating, Charlie Morrison.
Subs: Sean Aylmer for Griffin (inj), Ben O’Neill for Doyle (69), Adam Ryan for Johnston (74), Aidan Buckley for Khetan (88)
Referee: Michael Rock
Newmarket ease past Olympic
Newmarket Celtic 7
Shannon Olympic 0
Venue: Olympic Park, Shannon
After the disappointment of coughing up points when falling to Bridge Utd at home last Sunday, Newmarket Celtic have bounced back to defeat Lifford FC and Shannon Olympic to keep a slender lead at the top of the Premier Division.
They totally outclassed Olympic as they eased to a handy victory on Saturday evening in Shannon.
Tadhg Noonan opened the scoring on five minutes before turning provider for the second goal via Kieran Hackett.
By the half time whistle, they led 4-0 with Aaron Rudd and Nathan Boaventura hitting the net.
Rudd, Boaventura and Hackett all added to their tallies in the second half as Newmarket picked up the three points on offer.
Newmarket Celtic: Shane Cusack, Ian Collins, Harvey Cullinan, Antony Dabryntes, Cathal Cullinan; Jack Kelly, Aaron Rudd, Brian O’Connor, Nathan Boaventura, Tadhg Noonan, Kieran Hackett.
Subs: Billy McNamara for Collins (HT), Dermot Gannon for Cusack (HT), Martin McCarthy for Noonan (53), Eoin Hayes for Rudd (77).
Referee: Brian Punch
Inch take down Lifford
Inch Crusaders 2
Lifford FC 1
Venue: Lees Rd
Lifford took the lead in the first half but it was Inch Crusaders who took the three points in what would have been considered a major upset when the season began.
Pressure is now beginning to mount on Lifford who are second from the bottom and although they have a game in hand which if they will see them overtake Shannon Olympic, they are certainly in a nervy spot.
David Keenan put Lifford ahead on thirty five minutes but the Ennis side failed to push on from here and fell behind early in the second half.
Goals from Niall McCarthy and Bradley Higgins, both of which Conor Finnucane had the assists saw Inch Crusaders go from goal behind to leading by one, all within the first ten minutes of the second half.
They managed to see out the game and now have the potential to leap frog Shannon Town to fifth place in the Premier Division if they win their extra games.
Inch Crusaders: Tommy Barry; Ronan McCarthy, Martin Moran, John Hassett, Niall McCarthy, Colin Carmody, Conor Finnucane, Kenneth Higgins, Seán Ronan, Bradley Higgins, Diarmuid Ó Ceallaigh.
Subs: Michael Hickey for Ronan (80)
Lifford FC: Aidan Jordan, E Fox, Jean Ganda, Fiachra Roche, Chiby Okoye, Chuks Obadeyi, John Forson, Josh Ryan, David Keenan, Lucas Silva, Jorge Becker.
Subs: Emanuel Obadeyi for Ryan (37), J Chukuwumera for Fox (62), Eoin Monaghan for Ganda (63), C Guilfoyle for Keenan (79)
Referee: Pa Gleeson
Maloney Hardware Premier Division
Inch Crusaders 2-1 Lifford
Tulla Utd A 6-1 Kilrush Rangers
Avenue Utd 3-0 Shannon Town A
Shannon Olympic 0-7 Newmarket Celtic
Banner Fire First Division
Sporting Ennistymon 0-9 Newmarket Celtic B
Coole FC 4-2 Mountshannon Celtic A
Bunratty Cratloe 1-2 Ennis Dons A
Moher Celtic 3-2 Manus Celtic
Brian Pyne Tiles Second Division
Corofin Harps 2-6 Bridge Utd B
Shannon Hibs A 1-2 Fern Celtic
Hermitage A 5-2 Shannon Town B
Callan Utd 3-2 Bridge Celtic
Brownies Barbershop Third Division
Mountshannon Celtic B v Hermitage B
Newmarket Celtic C 0-3 Avenue Utd B
Shannon Town C v Tulla Utd B
Shannon Hibs B 1-4 Ennis Dons B
Michael O’Gorman Youths Cup Semi-Final
St Pats 0-8 Tulla Utd
Avenue Utd 1-2 Bridge Utd
Youths League First Division
Sporting Ennistymon 3-0 Bunratty Cratloe
