Stapleton brace fires Avondale in to cup final
FAI INTERMEDIATE CUP
TOLKA ROVERS……………………………………….. 0
AVONDALE UNITED…………………………………. 2
By Daire Walsh
TWO goals in the space of four second-half minutes by Ian Stapleton proved to be the difference between the teams at Frank Cooke Park yesterday afternoon.
Reigning champions Avondale United booked their place in the FAI Intermediate Cup Final with a hard-earned victory over hosts Tolka Rovers.
This win ensures that Avondale’s quest to secure an unprecedented fourth consecutive cup crown is very much alive, but they will have to bide their time before discovering their opponents in the 2014 decider, after south Dublin rivals UCD and St Patrick’s CY finished on level terms in their penultimate round encounter.
This showdown at the Griffith Avenue venue pitted Avondale against their old adversary Paul Doyle, who was in charge of Cherry Orchard when they finished second best to the Rebel men in both 2011 and 2012.
Doyle has developed a formidable outfit since assuming control of Tolka, however, and with David Somers dropping deep into midfield alongside Dennis Moran and Mark O’Neill, they were aiming to gain a stranglehold on the proceedings.
The deployment of Roy Long and Eoghan Lougheed as marauding wing-backs did provide John Ryan’s men with a promising outlet, though, and in spite of the pressure being applied by the home team, Avondale were on top of possession during the early exchanges.
Rovers centre-half Noel Murray was narrowly off-target from a Lee Dixon corner nine minutes in, but Stapleton was desperately unlucky to see his powerful header come crashing off the woodwork seven minutes later.
Kenny Murphy also saw a well-directed effort on goal deflected behind, but despite living off scraps for much of the opening period, Tolka were making life extremely difficult for the visitors.
Tension did threaten to boil over at times, with Danny Long, Mark Horgan and Graham McCarthy all being issued with yellow-cards during the course of the half, although Tolka’s Mark Hughes also found his name in referee Craig Heavey’s notebook for simulation on 35 minutes.
As the interval approached Tolka were starting to impose themselves inside the final-third, but their lack of a cutting edge ensured that Daniel O’Leary’s net remained untroubled.
With the deadlock unbroken at the mid-way point, the possibility of a second semi-final replay was on the horizon, and though Tolka’s Moran and Stapleton both kept the opposing netminders on their toes, clear-cut opportunities were largely at a premium.
Shotstopper Morgan Cranley produced a terrific save from Danny Long just past the hour-mark, but the United centre-forward was deemed to have been in an offside position.
However, this only offered a brief reprieve to Tolka, and with 66 minutes gone on the clock, Avondale finally produced some daylight in the contest.
The move for the opening goal started with a long punt up the field by O’Leary, and after the Tolka defence was caught napping, Stapleton headed beyond the reach of the advancing Cranley.
This lifted a massive weight off the shoulders of the Avondale players, and just three minutes later they effectively killed off the challenge of Rovers.
The livewire Stapleton once again left the Dubliners reeling, and his sweet left-footed volley from a tight angle left Cranley completely rooted to the spot.
By now Avondale were playing with supreme confidence, and Stapleton went close to completing his hat-trick 18 minutes from the end via excellent approach play by strike partner Danny Long.
The introduction of the imposing Adam Crowther did give Tolka a direct option inside the final 20 minutes of action, and Moran’s side-footed drive narrowly cleared the crossbar six minutes from time, but before that, an audacious 45-yard lob from the impressive McCarthy almost deceived Cranley.
Crowther was somewhat unfortunate to see his glancing header deep into second-half stoppage-time drifting past O’Leary’s right-hand post, but this would have been a mere consolation for Tolka, who were ultimately outclassed on the day by the six-time winners, who will be firm favourites to add a seventh Cup success to their list of honours.
TOLKA ROVERS: Morgan Cranley; Brian Fitzpatrick (Adam Crowther 70), Noel Murray, Wayne Byrne, Niall O’Reilly; Mark Hughes, Mark O’Neill, David Somers, Dennis Moran (Luke Kelly 85), Lee Dixon; Shane Hughes.
Subs not used: John Brophy, Owen Humphries, Karl Somers, Gavin Browne.
AVONDALE UNITED: Daniel O’Leary; Brian Fitzgerald, Michael Mulconry, Mark Horgan; Roy Long, Karl Caulfield, Graham McCarthy (Dave Kiely 87), Kenny Murphy, Eoghan Lougheed; Ian Stapleton (David Spratt 80), Danny Long.
Subs not used: Brian Murphy, Greg Kelly, Declan Cahill, Jason Greene, Dave O’Keeffe.
Referee: Craig Heavey (Dublin).