St Michael's beat Clonmel Town in Tipperary tie of the round in Munster Junior Cup
All four goals were scored in the first half
St Michael’s 3 – 1 Clonmel Town
This game was rightly billed as the tie of the second round of the Munster Junior Cup, as Town took an unbeaten start to their season to Cooke Park to take on perennial favourites and record winners of the competition St Michael’s.
And in the end it was The Saints who prevailed, thanks to a strong first half performance and the ability to withstand a strong second half Town display.
The hosts were fast out of the blocks and hit a superb opener in the third minute, when Russell Quirke broke the cover from an Ashley Kelleher pass and Jimmy Carr was on hand near goal to convert the cross from close range.
However Town played themselves into the game and were level in the 17th minute, when Keith Guiry was upended as he burst into the Saints area by Adrian Walsh and the resultant penalty saw Alan O’Donnell fire home on the rebound after his initial shot was saved.
But the cheers from the away end had barely died down when the home side re-established their advantage minutes later, again from the penalty spot. Russell Quirke was fouled in the area and although Evan Comerford saved Jimmy Carr’s penalty, Carr too reacted quickest to slot home the rebound.
Both sides had chances after that but Saints delivered the telling blow in the 32nd minute when Ashley Kelleher got on the end of a Joey Mulcahy shot after Jimmy Carr did well to break down the left flank, to make it 3-1. The entertaining half came to a close with Saints two goals to the good, and the crowd looked forward to more of the same in the second half.
But it failed to deliver, as the home side had the luxury of slowing the pace down and choking off all areas of attack from an increasingly frustrated Town side.
Ashley Laslett and Alan O’Donnell fashioned chances for the Clonmel side, but they never really looked like putting the home side under the kind of pressure that would be needed to pull their team back into the game. And even as they did, the hosts always retained that goalscoring threat that they felt could be brought out if and when it was necessary.
In the end, there were no more goals and the home side continue the well-travelled path further and deeper into a competition that has given them many successful days in the past.