​​​​​​​Newport exit with heads held high
Aisling Annacotty 2
Newport Town 1
By Thomas Conway in Annacotty
With the clocking ticking towards 85 minutes and the prospect of extra-time looming, Aisling Annacotty’s Aaron Murphy brought the curtain down on Newport Town’s FAI Junior Cup campaign in Sunday's sixth round clash.
Soaring above everyone in a crowded penalty area, he directed the ball home with his head, a fraction of a second before the Newport keeper Jimmy Fyfe could get his finger-tips to it.
It triggered some explosive celebrations, with the prevailing emotion one of relief for the favoured home side that play two tier higher in the Limerick District League than their near neighbours from Tipperary.
It was a tragedy of sorts for Newport Town whose suppoters out-numbered the hosts 10-1. Contrary to expectation, the visitors displayed the greater footballing class throughout the 90 minutes, showing considerably more creativity when on the ball, and also managing to negotiate the fast-tempo astro-turf surface.
MATCH DIGEST
Man of the Match: Davy Ryan (Newport Town)
Aisling Annacotty: Brian O'Connor; Kennedy N'dip; Killian Moloney; Graham Burke; Steven Daly; Nathan O'Callaghan; Ben Banaghan; Dylan Sheehan; Jason Lipper; James Cleary.
Subs: Aaron Murphy for Cleary (60), Ronan O’Dwyer for Daly (68).
Newport Town: Jimmy Fyfe, Kevin O’Brien, Mark McGuire, Elliott Slattery, Christy O’Connor, Peter O’Sullivan, Dave Ryan, Darren Collins, Christy Doyle, Brian O’Sullivan, Sean Ryan.
Referee: Robert Broe (Limerick DL)
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