This article is from page 85 of the 2009-03-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 85 JPG
WITH their hopes of retaining their league title all but over, the cup now becomes the main priority for New- market Celtic. The ten times winners may not have been in the winners enclosure since 2000 but they eased their passage into the last eight on Sunday with a comfortable victory over Bridge Celtic B.
Off the back of two battling results against fellow title contenders Av- enue Utd and Lifford, and barring the shock of the tournament, New- market were always fancied to easily account for the third division side as they had already beaten Celtic’s first side in the previous round. However, it did given stand-in manager Paudie Cullinan the opportunity to test out some of his fringe players and they responded with an assured display.
Still, Bridge Celtic’s second string didn’t make it easy for their Premier Division opposition and while they never really looked like breaking the deadlock themselves, they did frus- trate Newmarket sufficiently in the first half. Had they held out until the break, it would have given them great confidence but a Keith Power goal just before half-time, finally settled Newmarket and from that point on, it was only damage limitation for the O’Briensbridge side.
Eased by that breakthrough goal, the floodgates opened for Newmar- ket in the second period with two Siullery headers and a second from
Power guiding them to a 4-0 advan- tage. Worse was to follow for Bridge Celtic when the impressive Sillery was taken down in the area and Sea- mus Considine converted the penalty and Newmarket’s Grand Slam Sun- day was completed when substitute Jimmy Houlihan grabbed the sixth.
With Avenue’s surprise exit to Shannon Olympic on Sunday, New- market are now installed amongst the favourites for this year’s Clare Cup along with Lifford and holders Rock Rovers. From here on in, it will come down to the luck of the Friday night’s draw as Newmarket look to secure some silverware out of the Tere) IF