Cullinane brace seals it for Newmarket
MFA 3rd Round: . Newmarket Celtic 2 Avenue Utd 1
A very competitive game played in very wet and windy conditions, that made good football difficult but .
Elias Kuntz gave Avenue the lead, scoring in the 35th minute, heading a cross from right to net
By JIM MADDEN
In second half Newmarket Celtic got a grip on the game, but good defending kept them out until 65 the minute when Harvey Cullinane scored and the same played was on target just tow minutes later to give Celtic the lead.
In the final minutes everything at Newmarket but they held on to advance in the provincial knockout competition.
Bridge United also advanced to 4th Round beating Shannon Olympic 3 - 1 but had to come from a goal down at the interval to book their place
Bridge dominated the second half and goals from Paul Corry (2) and Brian Corry secured the win.
Shannon Town beat Shannon Hibernians5-2 o secure their place in fourth round
There was only one game in the Clare Premier League, with the bottom two meeting in Kilrush.
Kilrush Rangers beating Mountshannon 5-1.
Munster Junior Cup Rd 3
Newmarket Celtic 2-1 Avenue Utd
1st Division League: Kilkishen 1-2 Newmarket Celtic B
Whilst off the pitch the weather conditions were tough for football, the results on it were positive for Newmarket Celtic this weekend.
The club’s A team took on arch rivals Avenue United in the 3rd Round of the Munster Junior Cup with both sides spending the first 10 minutes adjusting to the conditions with no real chances of note.
Having started the season unbeaten, this was the first real test of the rebuilding job being carried out by Paddy, Eoin and Stephen of this youthful "A" squad as they came up against the domestic double winning side from last season in Avenue.
Newmarket aided with the wind in the first half caused the Avenue defence a number of problems with some direct kicks from Shane that found the head of the extremely impressive Darragh Leahy who had willing runners all around him.
Newmarkets first shot on target did not come until the 16th minute when some great build up play between the front three ended up with a shot on target from Davy Mc that was gathered by the keeper.
A half of few chances for both sides suddenly swayed in Avenues favour around the 30th minute mark when a tame cross from the Avenue right wing was not dealt with by the Newmarket defence with the ball eventually finished to the back of the Reds net.
No sooner had play resumed and Avenue nearly had a second only for a fantastic piece of defending from Davy O’Grady who threw himself in front of an Avenue shot destined for goal.
As the second half began it was clear that Newmarket were coming out a more determined team as aside from some half chances, we had barely laid a glove on the Avenue goal in the first 45.
Newmarket upped the pressure and had three fantastic chances within seconds to find an equaliser but failed due to some brilliant Avenue defending.
Corner after corner came and went until eventually an in swinging corner found Harvey who stuck his header to the back of the net to send the home crowd wild.
You have to make your opportunities count when you are on top and that's exactly what we did as within 11 minutes of the second half restarting we were now in the lead with our second goal also coming from the head of the outstanding Harvey Cullinan.
This Newmarket team is still a work in progress so it was clear that with the expected Avenue onslaught that was about happen for the final 30 minutes old heads were askec to step up.
Eoin Hayes covered some ground and worked tirelessly as he always does. Davy McCarthy, coming back from four weeks out injured was cool and calm in possession in the second half until he was taken off towards the end but above all, special mention must go to Kevin Hartnett who was everywhere breaking up play and starting attacks.
Avenue missed a glorious chance from five yards out to equalise and that was followed up by a sustained period of pressure where they had four corners in a row without really testing Shane.
With five minutes of normal time remaining and during a stoppage in play, Avenues centre half Conor Mullen was alleged to have stamped on Darragh Leahy by referee Michael Rock and a red card was shown.
Newmarket were resilient throughout this period and managed the nine minutes of added time exceptionally well.
Throughout the game we witnessed some brilliant individual defensive performances from James, Harvey and Davy O G and collectively as a unit the team was well organised.
The final whistle went to the delight of the Newmarket support and our name now goes into the 4th Rd draw of the MJC. Attention now turns back to the Premier league as we welcome Bridge United to McDonough Park next Sunday in another huge test.
The B team travelled to Kilkishen for an afternoon kick off that saw them return with all 3 points following goals from Evan Kelly and Eoin McGillick. A fantastic away win for the lads.
Well done to all involved
