Newtown power past Carnew in Back Alley
Newtown United kill off nine-man Carnew in extra-time
NEWTOWN UNITED 3 CARNEW AFC 1
‘LADS, I’m hoarse from shouting at ye,’ referee Michael Kennedy yelled to the Carnew and Newtown players about 20 minutes into this fractious Charlie Bishop Cup affair at the Back Alley last Sunday morning.
Kennedy had a frantic opening 20 minutes as he tried to keep the peace between two sides with very little love between them as they went hell for leather in the opening exchanges, with several players in particular on the receiving end of some robust challenges early on much to the annoyance of the very vocal lines.
It was a bitterly cold morning on the Wexford border with heavy threats of rain and tough tackling hanging over the entire game.
The rain held off for the most part but a mini melee and the fact that both sides finished with nine (Newtown for verbals late on) will tell you that that wasn’t the case when it came to the rough stuff.
The surface of the Back Alley doesn’t lend itself to beautiful football and though both sides did their best to play a bit and plenty of decent chances were created, this game was littered with an abundance of poor play, stray passes, weak set pieces and wayward shooting.
Both sides threatened early on. The Magpies had threats all over the field. Neilly Martin and PJ Dowling were solid at the back, Ross Davis was very lively, Dean Odlum looked dangerous at times and Dillon Carthy never stopped going from start to finish.
Carnew‘s Eoghan Dolan put in a good shift, Justin House was solid as always.
The loss of the services of PJ O’Keeffe and Rob Young was keenly felt, O’Keeffe was substituted and Young was lost to injury after a clattering collision in the middle of the field. The home side looked to Cillian Gilligan to pose their main goal threat while Conall McCrea worked tirelessly all over the field.
The game was decided with about two minutes of normal time remaining and the sides tied at 1-1 when a moment of madness saw Carnew lose substitutes John Walshe and Adam Barnes to straight red cards after both men were found guilty of striking in separate incidents; Walshe over-reacting to unnecessary attention from a Newtown man and Barnes getting involved in the aftermath.
Nine against 11 for extra-time and there was only going to be one winner.
Newtown substitute Shane Doyle fired home after good work from Dillon Carthy with six minutes played in the first period and then Luke Martin fired home past Cormac Doyle after a stunning ball from Ross Davis. Game over. But it could have been oh so different for the home side had they not lost the services of two men at such a pivotal moment.
Realistically, they would never have trailed in normal time had they not suffered the concession of a horrible own goal after just seven minutes when Ross Davis played what appeared to be a sweet onetwo with Dean Odlum (Odlum may well have been going for a shot) and Davis pulled the trigger close to the end line and his shot came off Dan Nolan’s leg and flew in past the helpless Cormac Doyle in the Carnew goal.
Fouls on Dillon Carthy earned Newtown a corner and a free. Carnew cleared the corner but Carthy’s clever free kick was directed into the path of Ross Davis who drove a rocket up and over the Carnew crossbar with 16 on the clock.
Cillian Gilligan was fouled by Barry Davis as Carnew came looking for an equaliser and Rob Young’s lofted free came back to Gilligan, but his shot was off target and wide.
One of two Carnew penalty appeals arrived soon after. A PJ O’Keeffe floated free fell to JJ McCrea who claimed to have had his leg hooked by a Newtown defender. Michael Kennedy was having none of it, but McCrea ran 25 yards giving out stink to the match official that he had erred in his decision making.
Carnew were creating chances, mostly from set pieces due to Newtown’s defensive formation more or less suffocating Cillian Gilligan. Dan Nolan and Wayne Kinsella would get their heads to crosses, but nothing close to troubling Ken Turner in the Newtown goal.
The Magpies were always dangerous on the attack as was displayed by Dean Odlum’s cheeky attempt at a lob over Cormac Doyle. The Newtown star failed but the threat was there. Doyle gathered easily at chest height.
He would be beaten three times in this game, twice in extra-time, but he prevented at least five good Newtown chances and he was very commanding under the high ball. A Carnew equaliser was going to arrive from a set piece or a moment of magic and in the end, it was a moment of magic.
Conall McCrea gathered around midfield and trotted towards goal with the ball at his feet before pulling the trigger with a worm-burner from about 30 yards and it screamed past Ken Turned to the bottom corner of the Newtown net. Game on.
Moments before McCrea’s excellent goal, Carnew had what they felt was their second penalty appeal of the game was Cillian Gilligan was through on goal only to be thumped by the approaching Ken Turner who in his defence will argue that he got that ball.
The battle raged up and down the field for the rest of the 90 minutes and then disaster struck for Carnew as they found themselves down to nine men with extra-time approaching.
Newtown never looked back after that and they stretched Carnew at the back and found ways past Cormac Doyle to march on in the Charlie Bishop Cup even though they, too, finished the game with only nine men after Ross Davis and Aaron Byrne were sent to the line by referee Michael Kennedy.
CARNEW AFC: 1. Cormac Doyle, 2. Eoghan Dolan, 3. Will O’Neill, 4. Dan Nolan, 5. Justin House, 6. Rob Young, 16. PJ O’Keeffe, 8. Wayne Kinsella, 9. Cillian Gilligan, 10. JJ McCrea, 11. Conall McCrea. Subs: 12. Eugene Jordan, 13. Dean Grandy, 14 Adam Barnes, 15. John Walsh,
16. Paddy Adair.
NEWTOWN UNITED: 1. Ken Turner,
2. Barry Davis, 3, Neilly Martin, 4. PJ Dowling, 5. Glenn Carthy, 6. Ross Davis, 7. Sean Heffernan, 8. Sean Odlum, 9. Dean Odlum, 10. Dillon Carthy, 11. Karl Carthy. Subs: 12. Aaron Byrne, 13. Luke Martin,
14. Shane Doyle, 15. Evan Moran.
REFEREE: Michael Kennedy