Six of the best for rampant Sky Blues
Campile no match for title favourites
IT WAS all too easy for North End United on Sunday as they continually sliced apart rock-bottom Campile in their Wexford Football League Premier Division tie at Hollygrove.
While the result says six, in all honesty it could have been three times that, despite the match only going a few ticks short of 65 minutes. If ever there was a clear indication of the gulf between top and bottom in this division, it was the strength of the hosts’ bench.
Shane Dempsey and Paul Murphy, both previous stars of the now-defunct Wexford Youths, cantered on with the game already over as a contest. Then, probably even more tellingly, on came Dale Flynn, the former Campile star who recently joined the Wexford town club.
It really was a question of how many right from the first whistle. Too easily North End went from back to front, usually down the wings but occasionally through the middle. It was a route one with precision kind of approach, taking full advantage of their opponents’ lack of pace.
Only some casual finishing and unusually lax play in the final third prevented a complete massacre. The hosts took just eleven seconds to get clear on goal when Jason Murphy slipped Adam Beary through, but Eoin Mythen made the save.
Still, it didn’t take long, as with 56 seconds on the clock Declan Downes bundled Murphy’s left wing free-kick home at the back post to open the scoring.
It was two in the eighth minute when Warren Broaders’ cross was cleared only as far as Lee Aust, and the right winger drilled home low from the right edge of the area.
Chance after chance came and went for the hosts, who were just as often frustrated by a linesman’s flag as they were by an uncharacteristic off day in front of goal. After seven good opportunities went a begging, the hosts got a wake-up call in the 28th minute.
James Keating crossed from the right, Owen Rowe missed his volley but David Larkin connected powerfully, thumping straight at Lee Walker.
It jerked North End to life, that and Shane Dempsey’s introduction. The midfielder ran on to Andy Moore’s lay-off and blitzed an absolute rocket to the top left corner from 25 yards out.
Three up at the break, Paul Murphy was introduced and it was clear the charmed life the Campile goal led would not last. Within two minutes he accelerated onto Dempsey’s through ball and coolly beat Mythen. Seven minutes later he scored a second, firing home from Jason Murphy’s pass to make it five.
When Andy Moore tapped to the net from Paul Murphy’s unselfish square ball to make it six in the 56th minute, it was clear the game wouldn’t go on much longer.
Referee Jimmy Kelly brought an end to proceedings in the 65th minute, leaving North End right in position to reclaim their league title with ten games remaining. NORTH End United: Lee Walker; Warren Broaders, Stuart Lawlor, Declan Downes, Lee Smith; John Fenlon, Gary Byrne; Lee Aust, Jason Murphy (capt.), Andy Moore; Adam Beary. Subs. - Shane Dempsey for Aust, inj. (36), Paul Murphy for Fenlon (46), Dale Flynn for Downes (53), also Dylan Owens. CAMPILE United: Eoin Mythen; Ryan Harris, Eric Banville, Kevin Parker, David Larkin; Emmet Daniels, James Keating, Peter Bolger, Thomas Kent; Paddy Roche; Owen Rowe. REFEREE: Jimmy Kelly.