St Michael's take big step towards another Premier League title in Tipperary
The Saints prove too strong for Cahir Park
St Michael's 5 Cahir Park 0
The Saints secured a vital three points in their quest to retain the Premier League title at a sunny Cooke Park on Sunday morning.
It was a game that never reached huge heights, with St Michael’s coming down from the high of the previous week’s Munster Junior Cup success.
Cahir Park lost Ger Quinn and Johnny Kennedy early on through injury and the hosts took advantage, going one up in the eleventh minute when Russell Quirke found Ed O’Dwyer in the area and he stabbed the ball past Cahir goalie Brian Sweeney.
It was two-nil just three minutes later when Jimmy Carr headed a Russell Quirke cross goalwards and it somehow ended up in the back of the net. And the game effectively finished as a contest by the 23rd minute when a Rhys O’Regan left foot shot took a deflection past Sweeney to make it three-nil to Saints.
The Park had their moments too, though, with a John O’Brien free kick coming back off the wall and a Craig Guiry header from a cross that went narrowly wide.
St Michael’s scored their fourth goal ten minutes before the break, with Carr turning provider to set up Russell Quirke and his angled shot delightfully found the corner of the net.
The tempo dropped a bit in the second half. Russell Quirke, Ed O’Dwyer and Rhys O’Regan all had chances throughout the half, and it was left to substitute Antonio Rea three minutes from time to add the coup de grace when Sweeney failed to hold a Joey Mulcahy corner kick, and the young striker was quickest to react to score.