Crumlin run riot in Inter Cup
NEWTOWN RANGERS…………………..0
CRUMLIN UNITED……………………….11
By Daire Walsh
CRUMLIN United stormed to the next phase of the FAI Intermediate Cup with an emphatic second round victory over Newtown Rangers at Farrell Park, Kiltipper last Sunday.
Impressive winger Sam Burgess bagged four goals, while Liam Brady – brother of Republic of Ireland international Robbie – carded a brace for the Pearse Park men.
Hosts Newtown lost John Houlihan to a red card on 31 minutes and, despite the best efforts of netminder Paddy Whelan, they could not halt the unstoppable march of their Crumlin counterparts.
While the visitors initially struggled to break through Newtown’s rigid back-five, the creative influence of attacking midfielder Jake Donnelly eventually took hold.
The former Shelbourne man forced a low save out of Whelan, before the deadlock was inevitably broken on 15 minutes.
Calvin Rogers fed the ball inside to Craig Walsh, whose right-footed drive was inadvertently deflected home by David Costigan. The lively Walsh subsequently shook the woodwork with a brace of close-range strikes as Crumlin sought to increase the gap between the teams.
Newtown suffered an additional hammer blow when Houlihan was dismissed for a robust challenge on Rogers and they ultimately fell further adrift just two minutes later.
Liam Brady raced onto a long delivery and after having his initial shot turned away, the centre-forward was on cue to steer home the rebound.
A rampant Crumlin maintained their relentless pursuit of goals as the play developed and a smooth Donnelly finish on the stroke of half-time propelled them into a 3-0 lead.
Newtown’s numerical deficiency left them severely hamstrung on the resumption and with Crumlin hell-bent on reinforcing their own supremacy, a testing 45 minutes lay ahead.
After Donnelly’s superb through-ball released Brady for his second of the game, Burgess opened his account by heading Walsh’s pin-point cross beyond the reach of Whelan. Crumlin manager Martin Loughran subsequently introduced a number of players off the bench, including the vastly-experienced Dean Kelly.
Rather than simply playing out the remaining minutes, the reassembled Crumlin line-up continued to dominate. Burgess and Kelly – a League of Ireland Premier Division winner with Shamrock Rovers in 2011 – rounded off quick-fire attacks to move United seven goals clear.
Burgess completed his hat-trick just past the hour mark and displayed great composure in advance of securing his fourth of the tie in the 69th-minute. Newtown made a number of alterations to their side moving towards the home stretch and it helped to keep Crumlin at bay for an extended spell.
Nevertheless, Crumlin were determined to have the final say. Centre-half Blair Mandiangu strode forward with purpose into the Newtown half and brilliantly fired to the bottom right-hand corner of the net.
Eager not to be outshone by sibling Liam, United substitute Gareth Brady brought the day’s scoring to an end on 88 minutes. Although McGreal appeared to be upended in the area, the play was waved on in time for Brady to roll home Crumlin’s 11th goal of the day.
NEWTOWN RANGERS: P Whelan; A Greenalgh (T Ilori 65); S Ray (A Kenna 63), J Doyle, D Costigan (E Monongo 74), G Naughton; J Houlihan, D Purdy, J Ojelabi; J Hanly, C Apos (O Hamilton 58).
CRUMLIN UNITED: M O’Connor; C Rogers, D Fagan (G Brady 59), B Mandiangu, J Memery; C Murphy (T Hyland 56), J Lee (N Cummins 59); C Walsh (A McGreal 53), J Donnelly, S Burgess; L Brady (D Kelly 56).
Referee: W Kelly (LSL).