Carlow Soccer Sunday 04 June
LFA O’35’s Cup – Round 1.
New Oak Boys 9
Liberty’s FC 0
New Oak started nervously and could have gone behind in the first minute after a mix –up in their defence but they managed to clear their lines.
After this early scare, New Oak settled and went ahead in the third minute through Willard Kinsella and as they completely dominated the game, they went on to score another three goals before the interval, through Greg Sykula, Brian Carbury and Seamus Farrell to take a 4-0 lead into the interval.
New Oak continued to dominate with Liberty’s hardly getting a look-in as Seamus Farrell made it 5-0 with a ‘pile-driver’ from 20 yards and then more goals arrived with both Brian Carbury and Greg Sykula grabbing their braces.
Willard Kinsella scored two more to make it a ‘hat-trick’ for him and New Oak ran out comprehensive 9-0 winners against an outclassed Liberty’s team, as they ‘laid down a marker’ in their quest to get their hands on a second Leinster title.
LFA O’35’s Cup – Round Two
Celtic Stars FC 2
Maynooth Town 0
Stars started the better against their visitors from Maynooth, as Martin Byrne shot narrowly wide following an early William Dixon corner on 10 minutes. Then on 22 minutes, Larry Keating picked up a loose ball in midfield and went on a mazy dribble, beating two opponents, before shooting low and hard, but the Maynooth keeper pulled off a fine save to deny him.
Not to be outdone Stars keeper –Jack Dunne also pulled off a fine save on 28 minutes to keep the scores level at 0-0 and just before the interval PJ O’Keeffe, pulled his shot wide and the interval came with a 0-0 score, as both sides were nullifying each other.
Five minutes into the second-half and Stars – Martin Byrne had a good chance but he volleyed it over the bar, however, a minute later and the ‘deadlock’ was finally broken as Shane Austin won a ball on the bye-line and put in a fine cross foe Senan Finucane to head into the top corner of the net for a vital 1-0 lead to Stars.
Finucane turned provider, as he ‘whipped in’ a fine cross to William Dixon, who made no mistake, as he beat the Maynooth keeper with a good finish for 2-0.
Stars saw out the rest of the game to secure the win and progress to the next round.
Best for Stars were Martin Byrne, Larry Keating and Tomas Kenny, whilst it was a good overall team performance from Maynooth.
Seniors Division Two
Burrin Celtic ‘B’ 2
Village FC 1
Burrin won the toss and opted to play with a strong wind which was obviously going to be an obvious factor, in this ‘bottom of the table clash.
Burrin put Village under enormous pressure from the start and on ten minutes Chris Bailey finished off a fine team move when he ‘side-footed’ home for a 1-0 lead to Burrin.
Village did have some chances the best being when they caught the Burrin keeper well off his line and a 40-yard shot was cleared by Billy Fanning to keep their slender lead and they took this into half-time.
With the wind advantage, Village upped the pace and David Gavin forced a good save from the Burrin keeper, however, Village got back on level terms when Mick Dowling was brought down in the box and Gareth Robinson calmly scored for 1-1.
With time running out, Burrin put Village under immense pressure and this paid off when a Willie Byrne cross found Pawel who fired home for 2-1 and they saw out the rest of the game, despite some Village pressure to take the victory and move up the table.
Best for Burrin were Willie Byrne, Chris Bailey and Declan Skelly, whilst standing out for Village were Mick Dowling, David Gavin and Mick Nolan.
Castlewarren Celtic FC 2
Killeshin FC 3
Killeshin got off to the best of starts as Glen Ryan put them 1-0 up in the first minute and 2-0 up through a great strike by Fergus Nolan in the 25th minute and they appeared to be very comfortable.
Castlewarren pulled a goal back soon after for 2-1 and this was the score as the interval came.
Thirteen minutes into the second-half, Paddy Williamson scored a third for Killeshin with a great header for 1-3, but again Castlewarren hit back with another goal for 2-3, to make it a tense finish.
Castlewarren had a few chances in the last ten minutes but just couldn’t manage to score, although they deserved at least a draw, but Killeshin consolidated their mid-table position with this win.
Best for Killeshin were Paddy Williamson and Eddie Gaffney, whilst it was a hard-working team performance for a gallant Castlewarren team.
St Joseph’s FC 0
St Fiacc’s FC 4
This was an excellent performance from St Fiacc’s in this ‘top of the table’ clash, as Fiacc’s took an early 0-1 lead, through a great finish from Mark Haughney. Joey’s did get back into the game but a combination of poor finishing and some great saves from John McGrath denied Joey’s and the interval came with that slender 0-1 lead to Fiacc’s.
Fiacc’s continued to dominate and went 0-2 up as Damian O’Shea scored direct from a free-kick and then 0-3, as O’Shea doubled his tally when he scored from the penalty spot.
Nicky Brannigan scored direct from a corner to seal an emphatic 0-4 win for Fiacc’s who ‘leap-frog’ Joeys and move into second place in the table.
Best for Joey’s were Martin Mazur and Aidan Phelan, whilst standing out for Fiacc’s were John McGrath, Jamie Payne and Damian O’Shea.
Awards Winners Season 2016-17
Club of the Year: Crettyard United
Overall Player of the Year: Lee Salter, Crettyard United
Women’s Player of the Year: Leanne O’Reilly, Parkville United
Premier Division: Bobby Dowling, New Oak Boys.
Herald Striker Division One: Kevin Foley, Ballymurphy Celtic.
Whites Pharmacy Division Two: Michael Foley, Slaney Rovers.
Burger King Carlow Division Three: Dylan Walsh, Hanover Harps.
Young Player of the Year: Dean Kelly, New Oak Boys.
Youth Player of the Year: Griffin Kennedy, Parkville United.
Women’s Young Player of the Year: Katie Brennan, Parkville United.
Seniors Division One: David Maher, Crettyard Utd.
Seniors Division Two: Eddie Dooley, Castle Rangers.
Women’s Division One: Patrice Whelan, Crettyard United.
Women’s Division Two: Sarah Conboy, Mill Celtic.
Carlow Women’s Inter League Player Award: Aisling Behan
Carlow Men’s Inter League Player Award: Cian Dowling
Promising Young Player Awards: Eoin Brennan, Parkville United; Sean Smithers, Nurney Villa; Ronan Mc Allister, Vale Wanderers.
Women’s Most Promising Young Players Awards: Aoife Nolan, St Fiacc’s; Eireann Moules, Slaney Rovers and Kate Drennan, Ballymurphy Celtic
MMI Golden Boot
Seniors Division One: Eddie O’Reilly, Crettyard United 8; Grzegorz Sykulu, New Oak Boys 8; Brendan Fox, Crettyard United 8.
Seniors Division Two: Brian Pearson, Castle Rangers 11.
Nationalist Premier Division: Dean Kelly, New Oak Boys 25.
Herald Striker Division: Kevin Foley, Ballymurphy Celtic 18.
White’s Pharmacy Division Two: John Nangle, Dolmen Celtic 19.
Burger King Division Three: Dillon Murphy, Hanover Harps 22.
Women’s Division One: Aisling Behan, Crettyard United 17.
Women’s Division Two: Joanna Cullen, Mill Celtic 17.
SuperValu Youths Division: Kostya Cahill. St Joseph’s 15.
Appreciation Awards: Ian McDonald, Killeshin FC; Anthony Byrne, Slaney Rovers.
Special Recognition Award: Nurney Villa Youths, Leinster Youths Cup Champions
Service to Football Award: Gabriel Deering, Slaney Rovers; Johnny Nolan, Burrin Celtic.
Referees 20-year Service Awards: Christy Haughney, Jim Wynne, Christy O’ Rourke.
Fair Play Award: Crettyard United
Manager of the Year: Sean Kelly, New Oak Boys
Referee of the Year: Brian O’ Reilly
Seniors Division One
Team P W D L Pts
Crettyard United 5 3 2 0 11
New Oak Boys 4 3 1 0 10
Burrin Celtic 5 3 0 2 9
Castle Villa 5 2 1 2 7
Castle Rangers 4 2 0 2 6
Carlow Rovers 4 1 0 3 3
Baltinglass Town 5 0 0 5 0
Seniors Division Two
Celtic Stars 5 4 1 0 13
St Fiacc’s FC 6 4 0 2 12
St Josephs FC 5 3 1 1 10
Killeshin FC 5 2 2 1 8
Burrin Celtic ‘B’ 5 2 0 3 6
Vale Wanderers 4 1 2 1 5
Castlewarren Celtic 6 1 1 4 4
Village FC 6 0 1 5 1
