This article is from page 56 of the 2011-11-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 56 JPG
Ennis Town Rock 3 – Hermitage A 0 at Lees Road, Ennis
ENNIS Town Rock advanced smoothly to the third round of Munster Junior Cup on Sunday with a convincing victory over local rivals Hermitage.
A goal-less first half gave way to a clinical display of finishing from Ennis Town Rock who will now meet Burren United in the next round.
A brace of goals from centre forward Niall McNevin ultimately proved decisive for the home side who took the lead on the hour mark through Marty McLoughlin’s close range effort.
Hermitage applied some late pressure but could find no way past goalkeeper Stephen Loftus. There was little to separate the sides in a typi- cally frantic opening to this all Ennis affair. But with Adrian Walsh and Eoin Glynn doing well in midfield and Richie Neylon supplying a string of accurate crosses, Town gradually gained the upper hand.
The best of the chances fell to McLoughlin who was denied by some dogged Tage defending. The same player was denied midway through the half when Tage centre back John Maher executed a perfectly timed tackle on the Town striker.
At the other end Paul Dullaghan was unlucky not to find the net when he rose to meet Sean McGhee’s free kick shortly before half time.
Town stepped up the pressure after the break and were rewarded with a goal in the 60th minute. McNevin directed a header into the path of Ney- lon who drilled a low centre across the six-yard box. Having edged just ahead of his marker McLoughlin turned the ball in at the near post. It was then the turn of McLoughlin’s strike partner Niall McNevin to steal the show.
The striker doubled his side’s advantage in spectacular fashion with a powerfully struck free kick before smashing a left footed effort against the cross bar.
McNevin then made it game, set and match for Town when he finished from close range to make it 3-0.
The introduction of Liam Meaney gave Tage some added thrust on the flanks but the visitors were having no luck finding a way past Loftus. The Town goalkeeper produced fine saves to deny Richard O’Grady while Paul Dullaghan was again unlucky not to grab a consolation effort at the death.
Ennis Town Rock
Stephen Loftus, Ethan Considine, JasonWhite, Shane Daniels, Ronan Judge, Richie Neylon,Adrian Walsh, Eoin Glynn, Daryl Eade, Niall McNevin, Marty McLoughlin
Subs
Emmanuel Obadey for McLoughlin, Gary Walsh for Glynn, Francis Daniels for A Walsh
Hermitage A
Joe Burke, Greg Howard, Eoghan Ryan, John Maher, Neil Mills, Robert Dunn, Gerry Dullaghan, Sean McGhee, Eoin Kane, Paul Dullaghan, Richie Fitzgerald
Subs
LiamMeaney, Richard O’Grady, Caomhan ÓBraonain
Referee
Julian Stanford