This article is from page 117 of the 2009-02-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 117 JPG
PREMIER League on.
That was the word in Avenue Unit- ed’s corner just before lpm on Sun- day after they threw the destination of this year’s title into the melting pot thanks to their second victory over Bunratty in the matter of a week.
Bunratty’s recent woes continued with this defeat — after only taking a point at home to Burren Utd two weeks ago and then dumped out of the Clare Cup race by Avenue, they needed to get their season back on track by taking something from this game.
No wonder they were very vocal at half-time of this potentially season- defining game. ‘Win today and we win the league’, was one line. ‘This is the league title if we want it,’ went another.
They wanted it alright after a fine strike from Pat Twomey, who cut in from the right and drove the ball to the net from a tight angle, had lev- elled matters five minutes before nee abe slon
Avenue had taken the lead 22 min- utes in through David Smythe. The fleet of foot teenager showcased his wonderful skills when outfoxing the Bunratty defence before chipping the
ball nonchalantly over Darren Whe- lan to the net from eight yards.
Avenue were the better team in that first half, but the complexion of the game altered drastically after Twom- ey’s equaliser and the departure with an ankle injury of Avenue keeper John Healy.
With no recognised replacement keeper in their ranks, substitute cen- tre-forward Bratislav was forced to take over in goal. However, it tran- spired that the 6 foot 5 inch stand-in had a relatively easy time of it in the second half as Avenue never looked back after being gifted back their lead only two minutes in.
Eamonn O’Reilly floated a long ball forward and with Ciaran McManus and David Herlihy putting pressure on Noel Collins, he headed the ball into his own net from just outside the six-yard box.
Bunratty never really recovered from this sucker punch and in the 78th minute Avenue really turned the screw thanks to Mikey Mahony who made a cameo appearance as a sub in the second half in his comeback game from suspension.
Picking the ball up in midfield, Ma- hony outpaced the Bunratty defence before laying the ball off to Ciaran McManus who tucked away the all-
important third goal.
Bunratty, who are beginning to look like the Lifford team of three years ago that got caught in the head- lights when the league looked under their control, did set up a grandstand finish when sub Terry Duggan forced the ball home from close range in the 88th minute.
However, Avenue held on for the crucial three points.