EMU into the last eight
Ardee Celtic 1 East Meath Utd 5
EAST Meath United eased into the last eight of the All-Ireland Cup after a five-star showing away to Ardee Celtic on Sunday.
But man of the match was certainly the home goalkeeper Andrew Wogan who brought off a staggering 12 one-on-one saves during the course of the game - and that was despite having a knee injury that prevented him from even kicking the ball out!
Part of Dundalk’s Kennedy Cup panel, he has the ability to make a big name for himself in Limerick come the summer, but overall East Meath United were a class apart on the day and Ardee in truth never got out of first gear.
From the opening exchanges in the sunny but windy conditions, East Meath looked a lot slicker in key areas of the park and the dashing Ryan McBrearty tested Wogan inside the first five minutes.
Davin O’Connor was a handful throughout the game and the former midfielder has a real desire for goal. James McElligott is a towering midfield general, and with Kartal Martin and Ben Parker the Meath men had plenty going forward.
Ardee actually went ahead in the game on 11 minutes, with a James Maguire corner headed home by Tadgh McDonnell, but that was as good as it got for them and three minutes later Wogan was finally beaten by a well-directed Ben Parker strike.
Wogan had to come up with a series of stops from O’Connor as EMU set the tempo high.
Jack Regan’s ball sent Maguire through on 19 minutes, but he was cut off as he went for goal. However, two minutes before half-time McBrearty’s corner wasn’t cleared and Martin found the net to give the visitors a 2-1 half-time lead.
Maguire, Emmet Smith and McDonnell showed glimpses of what Ardee can do as the second half progressed, but the momentum was with a solid EMU side, from Oisin Black in goals to Liam Leavy and Shay Rawat, along with a solid centre-half in Oran Sheppard.
Black brought off a fine save from McDonnell before O’Connor bagged the third and decisive score. From there to the finish Damien O’Kelly’s side lorded it, and but for Wogan would have gotten a lot more, with the keeper saving time after time.
O’Connor did add two more, but he was denied another when Wogan saved his penalty in the last few minutes.
Gary Malone and his Ardee men will have better days at the office after this wonderful cup run, while for EMU they are well capable of taking on anyone on their day as they are a polished, disciplined outfit. They now enter an SFAI Cup quarter-final draw for the first time in the club’s history along with big names such as St Kevin’s, Cherry Orchard, Belvedere, Shamrock Rovers and Westport.
ARDEE CELTIC: Andrew Wogan, Oisin Roe, Jack Regan, Nathan Commins, James Maguire, Oisin Dowdall, A Reynolds, Darragh Roe, Sean Callaghan, Tadgh McDonnell, Leon Myles, James Sands, Aaron Kearney, Kyle Treadwell, Tom Kelly, Emmet Smith.
EAST MEATH UTD: Oisin Black, TJ Orenia, Nathan O’Kelly, Oran Sheppard, James McElligott, Liam Leavy, Ben Parker, Davin O’Connor, Kartal Martin, Ryan McBrearty, Shay Rawat, Sean McCarthy. •EMU would like to say a big thanks to Mark Sheehan of Sheehan Transport for his continued sponsorship of the team.