Penalties were the order of the day in the opening two games in the Premier Ardagh Cup on Sunday morning.
St Saviours defeated Waterford Crystal 6-5 on spot kicks following a 2-2 draw. Barry Costine put Crystal in front from the penalty spot on 20 minutes. Stephen Dalton equalised for St Saviours on 63 and then Joe Twomey put the Saints in front before Robbie Butler levelled for Crystal. Trevor Regan scored the winning penalty in a sudden death shoot-out. In the previous round Crystal had defeated Southend United 12-11 on penalties. Southend must have created some sort of record in that game because they scored two penalties in normal time. To score 13 penalties in a match and still lose is extraordinary to say the very least!
Ferrybank will play St Saviours in the semi-final following their 6-5 penalty shoot-out victory over Villa. Ferrybank led 3-1 at half time, with Kevin Roche scoring two of their goals. Danny Walsh netted for the Villa. An OG and a goal from Jimmy Barry in the second half gave the visitors to The Village Grounds a chance to win the game, but Ferrybank came out on top on penalties.
Carrick’s treble bid
Carrick United enjoyed a facile 4-0 victory over a Bohemians team who had Matthew Billingham sent off just before half-time. Goals from Michael Coady (penalty) on 63 minutes, James Walsh on 74, Ian Cleary three minutes later and Wayne Fitzgerald shortly afterwards kept Carrick on track for a treble comprising the league, Premier Cup and Munster Cup. Carrick will play Hibernians in the other semi-final. Johnville took the lead against Hibs through James Starmer but on the stroke of half-time Michael Gaffney equalised for the home side. JJ Hutchinson scored the winning goal for Hibs 15 minutes from the end.
The ties between Ferrybank and St Saviours and Carrick United and Hibernians will be played in Ozier Park on Sunday next, May 16th.
