Crossmolina 0-4 Westport United

Crossmolina welcomed Super  League champions Westport United to Abbeytown on Sunday and were a bit too  accommodating to their guests, allowing them in for four goals on their way to  an easy victory in Round Three of the F.A.I. Junior Cup.   The home side struggled to  make any sort of headway against United, whose form in this competition so far  matches what went before during the league campaign.   The Westport lads simply  refuse to let teams get the better of them. They seem to have forgotten how to  lose. The amount of times red and black clad players flung themselves to block  attempted shots against Crossmolina was phenomenal – you really do have to work  hard to break them down.  Crossmolina didn’t have the  mien of a side that could beat United. They were forever on the back foot, with  the Westport defence in complete control and the midfield coming out on top in  most sectors. Credit must go to Crossmolina for keeping the score down to four,  though it must also be said that United were wasteful in the extreme.   Yet they were always in  command once Dessie O’Malley swooped for a fourth minute opener. The  striker started the move in his own half after the United defence coped easily  with a Crossmolina corner. The ball was worked from left to right through  Gerry McLoughlin and Vinny O’Malley, with the latter crossing into  the middle where namesake Dessie applied the perfect finish.   All of 25 minutes had  elapsed before the home side had their first shot in anger, a long-range effort  from the right by Michael Cafferty that flew over Martin McGreal’s  crossbar. Before that, the Crossmolina custodian Jonathon O’Hora had been  kept busy in dealing with shots by Joe Lawless and McLoughlin, and the one effort he couldn’t get near to – a powerful drive by Eoghan Gillen –  cannoned off the angle of post and bar.  Westport doubled their  advantage 12 minutes before the break but this was a scrappy effort, in total  contrast to the first. Vinny O’Malley tried his luck from the left side of the  area, a shot that may well have been kept out by O’Hora but for a wicked  deflection off Jason Canavan that took it to the bottom corner of the  net. The game got better as the  weather deteriorated in the second half. Crossmolina brought on John Duggan  and Mark Loftus for Paul Flaherty and Kevin McLoughlin  respectively, and they improved the shape of the side, complimenting the  excellent Paul McGuinness.  United were still well in  control, however, and they continued to press forward. Lawless showed the  strikers how to score with an excellent goal midway through the half after  McLoughlin set him up on the right wing. The full back cut inside and feigned to  shoot first time, using the space thus created to hit a low drive into the far  bottom corner with his left foot.  His teammates had been  wasteful beforehand, with Dessie O’Malley particularly culpable. He had a chance  to wrap things up in the 60th minute but blazed over the bar from six  yards when O’Hora could only parry a powerful drive by David Cameron into  his path.  Crossmolina thought they  might get back into it a few minutes after the third Westport goal when Cafferty  went down in the box under challenges from two United defenders, but play was  waved on. The visitors then rubbed salt into the wound by adding a fourth goal  with just over 15 minutes remaining, as Cameron’s tenacity on the left saw him  tee up McLoughlin for an emphatic finish from inside the area. The home side produced their  best move of the game in the dying minutes when McGuinness and Loftus combined  in the middle of the park to send substitute Michael Timlin through, who  might well have scored but for a last-ditch block by the imperious Lawless. United still had time to hit  the post through Vinny O’Malley, who did everything right but score once an  attempted clearance ricocheted to him. On the day they were clearly superior to  a team just one division below them, and should make the open draw of this  competition as their next tie is against Mayo League Division Two side Inver United.

Thanks to Brian Gillespie of the Connacht Telegraph for this report

Westport to the fore

FROM the first shrill of referee Jimmy Cawley's whistle to its dying blast, this Cup game ran along expected lines. Westport came, had a little look around and eventually conquered. Tougher tasks lie ahead but 90% of the time on Sunday Westport did exactly what was asked of them. They managed to keep playing football on a bumpy surface, carved open ample opportunities and they took advantage of four of them. For Crossrnoltna, unfortu­nately the gap between the top of the Super League and the middle of the Premier Division was all too apparent. They can be commended for effort but as a cohesive attacking threat, they were almost non-existent. Only one decent shot on target resulted in a first-half in which they had a gusty wind behind them and not once was Westport 'keeper Martin McGreal forced to muddy his knees. To be fair to the hosts, their game-plan would have depended on keeping Westport at bay for more than the four minutes that it took for Dessie O'Malley to open the scoring. From then on there was no way back. O'Malley capitalised on a slight Crossmolina foray forward to break up the field quickly and after working the ball wide, he arrived in the penalty area to send Vinny O'Malley's cross to the net. Westport dominated the half and with every single United player comfortable in possession, Crossmolina struggled. Eoghan McHale and Martin Geraghty would frequently carry the ball forward from the centre of defence while Dave Cameron and Vinny O'Malley linked well down the right side of attack. Joe Lawless (saved), Eoghan Gillen (crossbar) and Gerry McLoughlin (saved) all had good efforts at goal before Crossmolina's lone attack of the half when Michael Cafferty blazed over.Twelve minutes shy of the break Westport got the second goal that their pressure merited. Vinny O'Malley cut into the area from the left and his shot deflected off fullback Jason Canavan and into the corner of the net.Paul McGuinness was a potential worry for the visitors in the centre of midfield and while he was comfortable and composed on the ball, he was never given the leeway to imprint a significant influence on matters. Westport kept playing up until the break, one minute before which Dessie O'Malley really should have found the net from five yards.Whereas a 2-0 lead can sometimes be precarious, you knew that O'Malley's miss would not return to haunt Westport and as if to demonstrate such he missed another great chance right on the hour. Seven minutes later Westport made it three. Joe Lawless revels in the space the right-back slot affords him and after com­pleting a one-two of sorts with Vinny O'Malley, Lawless cut into the area and calmly slid the ball past Johnny O'Hora.Any pace that was in the game left at this stage as thoughts turned to the County final over the road and the Manchester derby. However, the Covies did manage to squeeze in another goal. Dave Cameron's cross was well controlled by Gerry McLoughlin who turned sharply and sent a stun­ning shot into the top-corner of the net.

Thanks to Edwin McGreal of the Mayo News for this report