Brennan, Thornton duel next for ‘Well
KILMESSAN NEWFOUNDWELL 0 2
NEWFOUNDWELL can look forward to a last-16 clash against the likes of Sean Thornton and Gavin Brennan after coming through their third-round Tully Bookmakers Cup tie without too much fuss on Sunday morning.
Athboy Celtic will have home advantage in that match, and with the two former Drogheda United stars in their ranks it should attract plenty of interest.
‘Well boss Ray Mills showed full respect to Division 3 outfit Kilmessan for the game at the MDL Grounds in Navan, fielding a strong starting XI, and the decision seemed to have paid dividends inside 10 minutes.
The ball was played out to the right flank initially and eventually crossed into the box, where it was nodded down towards Dean Carolan who netted with a wellstruck volley.
If they were expecting that early goal would open the floodgates, Newfoundwell were to be disappointed as they bossed in the possession stakes without creating too many clear-cut openings and the scoreline remained 1-0 going into the half-time break.
Indeed, Kilmessan had a chance to equalise just after the break when they finally got in behind the away defence, only to fire wide of Ronan Brown’s goal.
Perhaps that acted as a bit of a wake-up call for Newfoundwell as they went on to double their advantage after 55 minutes. This time the goal came from a set piece just to the left of centre as Ian Devine curled a free kick over the wall and past the Kilmessan netminder for 2-0.
Late on Eoin Mulroy shot home what could have been a third Newfoundwell goal, but this time the strike was ruled out for offside. NEWFOUNDWELL: Ronan Brown, Gaz Smith (Adam Brady), Stephen Murphy, Paddy O’Boyle, Daryl McDonagh, Ryan Connor (Deco Moran), Dean Carolan (Emmanuel Santos), Eoin Mulroy, Adam O’Connor (Jason O’Boyle), Ian Devine, Craig O’Connor.