This article is from page 60 of the 2011-09-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 60 JPG
Avenue United 3 – Ennis Town Rock 3 at Lees Road, Ennis
A HUGELY entertaining and incident filled game saw Avenue United and Ennis Town Rock share the spoils in Lees Road on Sunday.
In a game that had it all, Avenue twice took the lead but were pegged back by Ennis Town Rock, an amalgamation between schoolboy club Ennis Town and junior side Rock Rovers.
The new boys took the lead in the second half through Daryl Eade’s penalty before Mikey Mahony tapped home from close range for a late equalsier. A summary of the action only tells half the drama. It was breathless stuff from first kick to last. Literally.
Avenue took the lead directly from the kick off; last year’s cup champions later missed a penalty while both sides had chances to win it late on. All told a draw was probably the fairest result.
Having blitzed the daylights out of Rock Rovers in their last league meeting, a youthful looking Avenue side were clearly intent on steamrolling their re-named opponents in the early stages. Still the manner in which they took the lead probably exceeded even their expectations.
With the wind at his back, David McCarthy decided to test young Town goalkeeper Sean Kennedy. The midfielder’s shot from the halfway line had enough power and dip to sail straight into the net. 1-0 to Avenue.
With confidence sky-high, Avenue flooded forward to maximise the damage. Town and in particular Kennedy stood tall with the goalie producing one full length save to deny Irish schoolboy international Dylan Casey.
Town weathered the worst of the storm and hit back when the impressive Daryl Eade tapped in from close range after Eoin Glynn’s free kick.
Avenue regained the lead minutes later when a well-worked cross field passing move found Casey in space to bury a powerful shot.
By now Ennis Town Rock had gained a degree of parity with Av- enue in the crucial midfield area. A swift break and cross from the right found Dean Gardiner who buried a right footed half volley past John Healy.
The sides were level 2-2 at half time. There was no let up in the action after the break with Town looking dangerous on the counter attack through the pace of Eade, Gardiner and Glynn. They hit the front on the hour mark when Eade converted from the spot. Avenue, looking very comfortable in possession, patiently probed for gaps in Town’s defence. Kennedy then produced a fine save to keep out an Avenue penalty in the 75th minute.
Avenue were eventually rewarded when Sean Corry’s low centre was turned home by Mahony. Glynn and substitute Adrian Walsh both missed chances to win it for Town late on.
Avenue United
John Healy, Simon Cuddy,Alex, Mattie Nugent, Shane Browne, Dylan Casey, Gary Flynn, Pa Wilson, David McCarthy, Sean Corry, Mikey Mahony
Subs
Alan Roche, David Russell for Brown
Ennis Town Rock
Sean Kennedy, Barry Woods, JasonWhite, Shane Daniels, Ronan Judge, Ethan Considine, Francis Daniels, Ciarán Russell, Daryl Eade, Eoin Glynn, Dean Gardiner
Subs
Richie Neylon for Judge, AdrianWalsh for Considine,
Referee
David McCarthy