The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Mitchels Avenue march on after replay
Classic FC 0 Mitchels Avenue 3
THIS replay was played with a good competitive edge between two sides that know each other very well and Mitchels Avenue had the game wrapped up well before the final whistle against a Classic side that were without a number of regular players.
It was a difficult game to handle for referee Anthony Morrison and he almost needed a secretary to document the amount of yellow cards he had to issue to players from both sides in a foul ridden game.
The first half of this game was even enough with perhaps Mitchels Avenue carrying the bigger threat and the sides went in scoreless at half-time. However, two goals in the space of three minutes early in the second half put Mitchels Avenue in the driver’s seat and they coasted home after this.
They began the game strongly and they were very unlucky not to go ahead after nine minutes when Lorcan Seymour found Graham O’Leary with a great cross and his thunderous header came back off the crossbar. They followed this up with another attack but Tomas Leen shot wide.
Down the other end Classic hit on the break with Timmy Lynch playing a great over the top ball to Graham O’Leary who left defenders in his wake and with Avenue keeper David Hennessy coming out he dinked the ball over him and it was just fractionally over the crossbar.
Avenue had the ball in the net on the 27th minute, but Nathan O’Leary had strayed offside. Classic got a great chance in the 35th minute when Timmy Lynch got on to the end of a Graham O’Leary free kick, but his headed effort was wide of the target.
Whatever the Avenue manager said to his side at half-time they came out with fire in their bellies in the second half and they produced the opening goal in the 49th minute.
It was created with a wonderful long ball from midfield by Sean O’Reilly precisely measured for the in-running Lorcan Seymour and he turned an lashed an unstoppable shot to the roof of the net from 10 yards.
Two minutes later the Classic defence were caught napping when Brendan Coffey ran on to a loose ball and with defenders back pedalling he did not chicken out and he let fly with a piledriver of a shot from 15 yards which flew into the roof of the net.
Sloppy defending cost Classic dearly in the 65th minute when their goalie Gary Kissane was penalised for handling the ball outside the box. With a set piece orcherst-rated from the David Hennessy training ground Graham O’Leary took the free kick quickly to Lorcan Seymour and he drilled his shot low to the bottom corner.
Avenue were denied a fourth goal by a great save by the Classic goalie Billy Kissane to deny sub Craig Locke. To their credit Classic kept battling away to try and pull one back but they could not break down a rock solid Avenue defence who came away with a very comfortable win at the end.
Mitchels Avenue who are always a great cup side have a home tie against Fenit Samphires in the last 16. With Lorcan Seymour back after being out for a long time with a serious injury Mitchels Avenue will be very hard to beat in the competition.
CLASSIC FC: Gary Kissane, Tomas Leen, Timmy Lynch, Billy Clifford, Anthony Mc Aulliffe, Max Mugabe (Joe Duggan, 63 mins), Brendan Sweeney, Shane Fitzgerald, Donagh O’Brien, David Courtney (Brendan Smyth, 85 mins) MITCHELS Avenue: David Hennessy, Peter Murphy, Scott Hennessy, Chris O’Sullivan, Danny O’Shea, Robert Lynch, Nathan O’Leary, Sean O’Reilly, Graham O’Leary, Lorcan Seymour, Brendan Coffey
REFEREE: Anthony Morrison