Conary have too much for Aughrim in Division 3
Kennedy shines as dominant United see off Aughrim
AUGHRIM RANGERS 1 CONARY UNITED 5
CONARY made a push towards challenging Arklow United for the league title as they put five goals past league rivals Aughrim in an impressive 5-1 victory.
It was a very slow start to the game for both sides as both teams struggled to get into the game and create chances.
In the first ten minutes neither side had threatened with a shot on goal, but the home side started to get into the game as the minutes passed by in the first half.
Midfielders Shane O’Keefe and Anthony Byrne were combining well for Aughrim and almost created the first goal of the game in the 21st minute when the midfielders played a clever one two with each other before O’Keefe played through Dan O’Hare, who went one on one with Conary goalkeeper Andy Kennedy, but the striker dragged his shot wide of the post.
Aughrim opened the scoring on the half hour mark with a sweet strike from Dan O’Hare who this time found the back of the net.
O’Hare had been causing some problems for the Conary defence and finally opened the deadlock for his side with a half volley from just inside the area that put his side 1-0 up with 15 minutes to play in the first half.
Conary defender Stephen McCauley rallied his team mates and tried to get them to remain calm and focuse so they would not drop their heads after going a goal behind and it wasn’t long before they had an equaliser through Eamon Kennedy.
Striker Steven Roche had made a darting run down the right wing, beating two Aughrim defenders before crossing the ball across goal, the ball was cleared off the line by Aughrim keeper Shaun Doyle but only as far as Kennedy who blasted the ball into the back of the net with a half volley to grab a precious equaliser.
Kennedy didn’t stop there and was on a hat-trick just before halftime after he grabbed another as he tapped in his second of the game after another assist from striker Steven Roche who slipped the ball under the keeper and was knocked in at the back post by Kennedy in the 41st minute.
It only took ten minutes after the restart for Conary to grab another goal and lead the game by two goals, this time with an excellent strike from defender Justin Fagan who was first to react to a rebounded free-kick that rolled out to him and Fagan made no mistake with a sweet strike to gain his side a two goal lead in the game on the 55th minute.
On the 62nd minute Kennedy wrapped up his hat-trick with a placed finish into the corner of the net that gave Aughrim keeper Shaun Doyle no chance, the winger had been on impressive form throughout the game and kept getting into the right positions to punish Aughrim for their sloppy defending with some clinical finishing.
Aughrim could do little to stop a rampant Conary in the second half and after Kennedy grabbed his fourth goal of the day it was game over for the home side with 65 minutes gone in the game.
There were stand-out performances from Steven Roche, Eamon Kennedy and Stephen McCauley from Conary who now had a massive opportunity over the next few weeks to catch leaders Arklow United who earlier in the day been beaten by Shamrock Celtic.
Conary had hope as they had a game in hand and now were only a few points behind the league leaders.
Aughrim on the other hand sat bottom of the table with a mere five points.
AUGHRIM: 1. Shaun Doyle, 2. Jack Healy,
3. Eoin Forsyth, 12. John Annsly, 5. Jamie Doyle, 6. Anthony Byrne, 7. Luke Brown,
14. Aidan Stokely, 9. Shane O’Keefe, 10. Francis Byrne, 11. Dan O’Hare. Subs: Paul Lacey for Dan O’Hare (45min), David Dunne for Francis Byrne (63min).
CONARY UNITED: 1. Andy Kennedy, 2. Justin Fagan, 3. Zach Wolohan, 4. Stephen McCauley, 5. Tony O’Toole, 6. Steven Roche, 7. PJ Fluskey, 8. Niall McCauley,
9. Eamon Kennedy, 10. Dale Moran, 11. Jimmy Davis. Subs: Jason Fortune for Dale Moran (70min), Eddie Roche for Justin Fagan (68min), Sean Fanning for Steven Roche (76min).