Premier League

Shannon Town A – 1

Bridge United A – 0

Apparently fortune favours the brave but Bridge United will feel that the fortune escaped them on this occasion. The visitors dominated large periods of possession in the opening half and certainly won the midfield battle without creating anything clear cut up front. In fact it was Shannon Town who came closest to opening the scoring on 25 minutes when Evan Barrys speculative effort from 30 yards almost caught Paul Touhy off his line. In the final action of the half Paul Touhy produced a point blank save from Jack Kelly who was then adjudged to half punched the ball and was awarded a yellow card.

Town introduced Rob Wall for O’Connor at the break and this saw the home side enjoy some more possession in the centre of the park. However chances were few and far between with the visitors main threat coming from set pieces and Colin Scanlon guilty of missing a good opportunity at the other end on 70 minutes. This tight and tense affair was reaching a climax with yellow cards issued to Jay Whyte and Eoin Guinan in quick succession while Jack Kelly very lucky to stay on the pitch following a last ditch foul on Mark Pewter.

In the dying stages the game was to be decided in a frantic 60 seconds. With Bridge attacking down the right Trevor Maxwell pulled the ball across the 6 yard box and with Kieran Quinlan about to shoot he was tackled from behind by Eoin Guinan, a clear penalty but unfortunately the referee did not have clear sight of the incident so could not award it. The ball was immediately cleared to Scanlon who put Dave Cove through on goal. Despite Touhys efforts in the Bridge goal to keep it out the ball crept over popped up and over the line for the only goal of the game.

Bridge Team: P Touhy, Lenihan, S Touhy, Murphy, J Whyte, Keogh, Carr, Jon Downes, E Pewter, Fitzgerald Mcnamara 

Subs: Maxwell for Downes, M Pewter for E Pewter, Quinlan for McNamara

Town Team: Whelan, Griffen, Guinan, Carroll, Lake, Lindsey, O’Connor, O’Connell, Kelly, Barry, Scanlon

Subs: Wall for O’Connor, Monaghan for Lindsey, Cove for Lake, Cullen for Barry