First Division Roundup
Cork City's Ruairi Keating had the final say on a busy night in the First Division Credit: John-Paul McGinley (ETPhotos)
It was a busy night in the First Division on Friday night with the action lasting until the very final whistles around the country.
Wexford travelled to the Athlone Town Stadium looking to put the pressure on Treaty United in the final play off position. Manager Ian Ryan made a number of changes following their two all draw against Waterford last weekend with returns for the likes of Aidan Friel, Aaron Dobbs, Conor Davis, Paul Cleary and Adam Wells. However, it was another returning Adam who broke the deadlock. Former UCD winger Adam Lennon returned to Athlone Town during the summer transfer break and he opened the scoring for the Midlanders in the second half with his third goal since his transfer. Wexford had a chance to equalise but Enda Minogue saved Dinny Corcoran’s penalty and Patrick Hickey compounded the miss with a second goal for Athlone in the 84th minute. Having not picked up a single clean sheet in the league all season prior to Minogue’s arrival, it’s now in three for the former Bohemians stopper.
Treaty United took advantage of Wexford’s loss by recording a 2-1 win at home to Bray Wanderers courtesy of first half goals from Stephen Christopher and Dean George. Callum Thomson netted a second half consolation goal for The Seagulls at the end of a week which saw their influential forward Kurtis Byrne hang up his boots following a storied career in the League of Ireland and beyond.
At St Colman’s Park Cobh Ramblers had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Galway United following a last gasp Mikie Rowe equaliser for the away side. Shane Keegan’s Rams had taken a first half lead courtesy of Darragh O’Sullivan- Connell’s long range free kick on thirty minutes. After holding out for almost an hour, their hopes of all three points were dashed when Wexford native Rowe slotted the ball past Paul Hunt to keep alive Galway’s slim hopes of catching Cork City at the top of the FIrst Division.
Colin Healy’s Cork City were the biggest winners on the night as they sneaked a late 2-1 victory over third placed Waterford United at the RSC. Cian Murphy had given the Leesiders the lead at the start of the second half and with the Blues reduced to ten men following the sending off of Tunmise Sobowale a few minutes later it looked like Cork City would be favourites for victory. However, new signing Raul Uche found the net in the final minute for the home side to potentially grab a share of the spoils for his side. Cork City’s Ruairi Keating had other ideas however and, after Ally Gilchrist had been fouled in the penalty area, showed nerves of steel to place the ball beyond the reach of Paul Martin and secure a valuable three points for the table toppers.
