This article is from page 86 of the 2009-05-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 86 JPG
AVENUE’S fate wasn’t in their own hands going into this Sunday morn- ing showdown in Liscannot.
In a way Moher Celtic were partly to blame for that because it was the north Clare side’s sensational 4-3 victory over the Avenue in Lees Road in early April that looked like being the hammer blow to their league chances.
Not so thanks to a storming finish to their campaign, while their title rivals around them spluttered as the finishing line drew nearer. And, while Bunratty’s 18-match programme fi- nally spluttered to a disappointing end in Cassidy Park, Avenue were whipping up their biggest storm yet.
This was revenge for their 4-3 de- feat five weeks previously as the mercurial Mikey Mahony led a rout against a hapless Moher Celtic team that sadly lacked the menacing pres- ence of Dessie Molohan up front.
It was Molohan’s hat-trick that un- did Avenue at Lees Road — Mahony hit a double hat-trick in a remarkable display of finishing that helped him to top scorer in the league for the sec- ond successive season.
There was little to suggest in the early exchanges that it would be so easy — Moher, who needed a win to
have any chance of avoiding relega- tion, were competitive in the first 20 HOD USLULKoISE
However, despite great displays from Dara Blake and Alan Clohessy, a severly depleted Moher side, who
only had nine out of 26 first team players to call on due to injuries and GAA commitments, were eventu- ally steamrolled when the Avenue machine cranked to life midway through the first half.
Soon after Gary Flynn’s opener from a penalty in the 21st minute the competitive element drained from the game. The penalty came after David Herlihy’s cross from the right was handled in the area.
Five minutes later Avenue started putting daylight between the sides — this time a Sweeping move in which they broke from defence was finished to the net by Davide Ghilard1.
From there it was a stroll, some- thing that was really hammered home in the 35th minute when ‘keep- er Simon Donnell through to Eamon O’Reilly, Gary Flynn, David Smyth and Davide Ghilardi were involved in a brilliant passing move down the field — the final pass went to Mikey Mahony who fired to the net from 12 NETKORSE
From there on it was the Mikey Mahony show.
A minute before half-time he cut in from the left and drove home his sec- ond via Craig Flanagan’s right hand post. His hat-trick was up five min- utes after the re-start, albeit that Mo- her hit back for a goal of their own via a Dara Blake penalty.
However, by this stage word had filtered through to Liscannor that Lifford were 2-O up on Bunratty — it gave cause for further celebration and the real bluebloods over the last
25 years did that in style.
Bratislav’s flick put Mahony in for his fourth in the 64th minutes while Richie O’Grady was the provider for the fifth in the 77th. Number six ar- rived in the 85th minute when Maho- ny snapped up a rebound from Craig Flanagan and thumped to the net.
So ended one of the great one-man- shows in Clare soccer history. So begins the rebuilding process for the Moher boys.