Tipperary Town side, St Michael's gear up for FAI Junior Cup game in Dublin with win

Clonmel Credit Union Premier League

St Michael’s 5 – 1 Two Mile Borris

Saints warmed up for this weekend’s trip to Hardwicke United in the FAI Cup and were good value for their victory over Two Mile Borris at Cooke Park on Sunday.

The visitors started well and were awarded a penalty in just the fourth minute, when Jamie Lee had his kicking leg impeded, but Adrian Walsh got down well to save Lee’s resulting spot kick.

A good move on 11 minutes saw Owen Sheridan find Urban Nolan but he shot tamely at Adrian Walsh, as St Michael’s found it difficult to get to grips with Borris’ quick counter attacking game.

If anything, Borris should have found the front on a number of occasions, but poor finishing was their undoing. And you cannot afford to be profligate against a team as good as St Michael’s, who punished them just after the hour mark when Colin Bargary played in Jimmy Carr, who kept his composure to round the ‘keeper and find the net from a tight angle.

It was 2-0 five minutes later when a lovely lay-off from Russell Quirke saw Ashley Kelliher finish well from an angle to blast a shot to the net. Saints put the game to bed in the final minute of the half when Paul Breen was on hand to head home a Jimmy Carr cross.

The second half was a bit more disjointed, as the home side used their bench to give lots more players some game time, but in the 66th minute they added a fourth when Ashley Kelliher got in behind an Ed O’Dwyer effort to finish well from six yards.
That became five when Ed O’Dwyer played in Rhys O’Regan, who outpaced the defence and finished well 20 minutes from the end.

Borris got a goal back nine minutes from time when Dan Rafter persevered and managed to block down an Adrian Walsh clearance and the pace of the ball saw it over the line. But it was no more than a consolation in a game that was well wrapped up by then.