Cloney knocked out as hosts cruise to victory

The first half saw both teams creating good opportunities, with Cloney’s best play coming from good link up play between Steven Leckey and debutant Karl Cullen.

With half-time approaching, Knockmenagh scored two goals in quick succession.

The first came from a penalty after a clumsy tackle and the second saw a looped header leaving Jonny Stevenson with no chance.

Cloney came flying out of the traps in the second period as they halved the deficit after only five minutes, Chris Shields scoring with a well controlled first time shot from 25 yards.

With the impetus in Cloney’s favour, the visitors continued to push forward and Knockmenagh lost their shape and struggled to get their normal fluid passing game going.

On 65 minutes, Shields saw an attempted lob come back off the crossbar and when the rebound fell to Alan Harrison he could only screw his shot wide.

This seemed to deflate Cloney and rejuvenate Knockmenagh as they gained their composure and scored shortly after. The hosts broke a poorly executed offside trap to score with a crisp finish from the edge of the area.

With Knockmenagh now in the ascendency, they continued to push and got a fourth goal with a quick free-kick catching the Cloney defence cold and the Knockmenagh player was able to square the ball back to his strike partner for a simple finish.