Monread FC 5 Clane United FC 3
An eight goal thriller was served up in Monread Park today as Clane United visited in the senior shield. Monread opened the scoring early on as James Murphy capitalised on an excellent through ball to round the keeper and pass it into the net and give Monread a 1-0 lead. Monread doubled the lead soon after when James Ryan was taken down in the penalty area in which Paul Walsh calmly dispatched. Monread dominated the opening third of the game and only a couple of top class saves from the Clane goalkeeper kept the game at 2-0.
Clane who were fielding without seven of their Cup winning side from last Sunday began to grow in latter stages of the first half and halved the deficit through Stephen Leavy in the 30th minute making it 2-1 after a corner cleared the edge of the penalty area was slotted into the bottom corner. Without creating too many chances, Clane then drew level just before the break when Monread failed to clear their lines and again a deflected shot by Eoghan Maguire outside the box made its way into the bottom corner of the Monread net.
Monread kicked on in the second half after Clane’s centre half fouled Monread’s Cillian Whelan in a last ditch attempt to win the ball which left the referee with no option but to send off the defender with a clear goalscoring opportunity denied and therefore leaving Clane with ten men. Monread then went on to dominate the majority of the game. After a number of early chances Monread made it 3-2 in the 61st minute after a well worked attack was squared by James Ryan to the goalscorer Cillian Whelan to put Monread in front. Similar to the first half, Monread again scored in quick succession after an intelligently played short corner and cross from Cillian Whelan found centre half Dave Watson who delicately flicked the ball into the net making it 4-2 to Monread.
Against the run of play, Clane were then awarded a penalty which was confidently converted by Mark Kelly closing the gap to one goal again. However, Clanes hopes of a comeback were dashed as Cillian Whelan expertly whipped a free kick into the top corner of the net giving the Clane goalkeeper no chance. Monread managed the end of the game very well and saw out the last few minutes to earn a well deserved victory. Best for Monread was Cillian Whelan while for Clane United debutant Stephen leavy excelled.
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