? CBL Weekend Round-Up: Abtran on course for Treble with win in Mooney Cup!

? Finbarr Buckley

Mooney Cup – Second Round

Abtran 3 – 0  Colso Celtic                                                                                                                   

DUE to the inclement weather last weekend only two fixtures went ahead with the Mooney Cup second round tie between first division joint leaders and the 2014 winners Abtran and challengers Colso Celtic at Mayfield Community School last Saturday afternoon taking centre stage, writes Finbarr Buckley.

Colso dominated the early exchanges and went close to taking the lead through Andy O’Donovan and Alex Cummins. However, once Abtran settled and went in at half-time time without conceding, the hosts ran in three without reply courtesy of Chris Coughlan (2) and William Corcoran. Eoghan O’Sullivan’s rampaging run and cross set up Coughlan’s first before Danny O’Brien was taken down for Coughlan to covert from the penalty-spot, both goals coming within fifteen minutes of the changeover. Sub Shane Bowles got in on the action with an assist for Corcoran’s third and had a fourth himself disallowed for offside. O’Sullivan, Coughlan and Dale Dalton were the pick of Abtran’s eleven who now move into the last eight of the competition. Craig Murphy and Jack McCarthy shone for the visitors.

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Martin Harvey Solicitors 2  – 3 Cork Hospitals

Both teams needed a confidence-boosting win to bridge the seven-point gap at the bottom.  After Hospitals’ John Hayes saved a penalty from Adam O’Sullivan and Martin Harvey’s Kevin O’Brien kept out a Morgan Walsh free-kick, the goals started to flow inside the opening five minutes of the second 45.  Conor O’Halloran and Walsh netted for the visitors with Adam O’Leary crossing for O’Sullivan to side-foot Harvey’s opener. Tadhg Whelan restored Hospital’s two-goal advantage only for captain Conor Dalton to keep the hosts in the contest with a late second. However, time ran out for Eric O’Leary’s charges whose best on the day included O’Brien and Mark Moore McNally.

Next Sunday afternoon’s eagerly awaited Munster Junior Cup fifth-round tie between local rivals, Cork AUL’s Village United and Doolan’s Cow at Mayfield Pk., (KO 14:00), for a place in the last eight of the competition, is sure to capture the imagination of football followers young and old on Leeside. Both teams are enjoying tremendous seasons so far with Village on the coattails of Glen Celtic for the premier A title while Doolan’s, fresh from their recent FAI Junior Cup adventure, successfully reached a third consecutive shield final recently. Both have explosive firepower upfront  in Dean O’Connell, Stephen O’Donnell and Michael Coffee for Village while Doolan’s can confidently look to Tony O’Reilly, James Cotter, Aaron Hennessy and the outstanding Jamie Murphy to find the net for the Business League premier champions.