Ennis Carpets Clare Cup Semi Final: Avenue United 2-1 Bridge United (AET)
Avenue United and Newmarket Celtic will square off in this year’s Ennis Carpets Clare Cup final.
Avenue, who are the defending champions, edged a dramatic tie with Bridge United, with the game finally settled in the last minute of extra time as Steven McGann poked home the winner.
Bridge will be left rueing missed chances, with two really good opportunities being squandered in the second half of normal time, along with what looked like a legitimate penalty call being waved away.
Neither side managed to find the net in the 90 minutes, but six minutes into extra-time, Bridge went 1-0 up thanks to a clever finish from Jack O’Halloran.
With time running out, it looked as if Bridge had gotten the break to settle the tie when Brian Corry was taken down inside the box by Avenue goalkeeper Luke Woodrow. The referee did point to the spot, but the offside flag had been raised and the penalty was overturned.
In a twist of fate that only comes in the Cup, Avenue were awarded a spot kick of their own from the resultant break, as Nna was fouled inside the area. McGann stepped up to slot the ball to the bottom corner and level proceedings again.
A late corner to Avenue wasn’t fully cleared and when the ball returned to Philip Talty, he drilled it back into the danger zone where McGann was quickest to react and turn it to the net.
It sees Avenue into the final for the third year running and keeps David Russell’s side on course for a domestic double, with a potentially league defining clash with Newmarket to come next weekend.