Quay’s early wake-up call for Dulee
QUAY CELTIC DULEEK 4 0
DULEEK endured a torrid start to their Premier Division campaign at Clancy Park on Friday night as Quay Celtic cantered to victory.
The east Meath side shipped two goals inside the first six minutes and by the 35th minute they were four down, having conceded two penalty kicks, and after that it was a damage limitation exercise for Pete Brennan’s team.
The new manager now leads his team into a daunting home clash with defending champions Muirhevnamor, and he’s hoping the squad will be better prepared than they were for the opening game.
‘Probably the competition was not great in the last few games. We won 8-0 and then 4-0 in Shield games and in pre-season the toughest game we had was against Drogheda Town - and they weren’t the team then that they are now.
‘This was probably our first competitive game and I think we learned more from it than from all the other matches combined.
‘We improved in the second half and our workrate improved, and we got in [for scoring opportunities] once or twice, but it was a shocking start. They were quicker to the first ball and to the second ball, we didn’t win our headers and they physically came at us and we let them.’
Former Drogheda United striker Martin Smith, the joint player manager, set Quay on their way with a brilliant strike from outside the box, and then Aaron Comerford - formerly of Drogheda Town - converted a penalty kick which he had won himself.
At 2-0 Duleek had a mini-spell when they threatened to haul themselves back into the game, and they actually had the ball in the net at one stage, but Barry Kavanagh’s effort was controversially ruled out after an offside was raised.
Smith added his second and Quay’s third with a 33rd-minute header, and almost straight from the restart Duleek conceded another spot kick which Comerford once again converted past keeper Keith Carolan.
QUAY CELTIC: John Rogers, Mikey Burke (Shaun O’Connor), Stefan McKevitt, Dean Sheil, Robbie Gavigan, David Redmond (Sean Matthews), Niall McLaughlin, Cody Magill (Johnny Lynch), Drew Duffy (Denis Cholach), Martin Smith (Vinny Smith), Aaron Comerford.
DULEEK: Keith Carolan, Jack Fitzpatrick, Jamie Flaherty, Bryan Murphy, Craig Brodigan (Paul Martin), Robbie Daly (Matthew Noone), James Guilfoyle, Gareth Toal (Aaron Kenna), Raymond Hamilton (Daniel Martin), Cormac McGroggan, Barry Kavanagh.