Hoban bags a hat-trick for Westport

Hoban bags a hat-trick to seal deal


ROUND 4
Westport Utd 3
Hoban 33, 48, 61

Manulla 1
G Durkan 88 (pen)

Daniel Carey
Westport

DAVID Hoban bagged a hat-trick as Westport United progressed to the ‘magical mystery tour’ section of the FAI Junior Cup at the Sports Park last Sunday. The Covies face a trip to Crettyard in round five, though they’ll be hoping to have shaken off some of the rustiness they exhibited here before their long journey to Co Laois.
Hoban was in lethal form. His opening goal came after 33 minutes when he brilliantly took down a long delivery from Gary Cunningham before beating Cunningham’s opposite number MicheΡl Jennings. His second was the first notable incident of the second half, firing in from the left after good work by Martin Geraghty. And the hat-trick was secured after Jennings made his only mistake of the day, dropping Colm Keane’s corner.
Manulla brought only 12 players to Westport, and Gerry Lohan was the only man in the technical area before coming into the action himself in the second half. Yet they had a number of good chances, and Westport were probably flattered by their scoreline. The visitors’ only goal came two minutes from time when MicheΡl Jennings (by now being outfield) was tripped by Cunningham after a short pass from Joe Lawless. Gary Durkan rolled in the resultant penalty.
The game opened at a good tempo with the odd flash of quality link-up play, but produced few chances before the first goal arrived. The sole exception was a Manulla cross (from Rory Martyn) which looked dangerous before Cunningham gathered the ball. Soon after Hoban’s opener, Jennings did well to gather Darren Browne’s deflected free kick at one end, while Cunningham had to scramble to get across goal after Gary Durkan’s long-range effort took a bigger deflection. The goalkeeper again came to Westport’s rescue in first-half injury time, when Shane Durkan set up Roger Clarke, who was deemed onside by assistant referee Mick Walsh, but Cunningham kept his effort out at the expense of a corner.
Hoban’s second and third goals were the only really significant incidents of the third quarter, as Westport played more fluently and effectively killed off the game. That said, Westport took the foot off the gas thereafter and were careless in possession at times. Manulla midfielder Shane Durkan and goalkeeper MicheΡl Jennings swapped places, and Jennings had a couple of decent opportunities after coming outfield. He shot over after collecting a pass from Rory Martyn at the end of a good move, and Mark Mongan had two attempts of his own thwarted by Cunningham, the first a fine drive from distance.
Barry Cuffe was over 40 yards out when he rattled the Westport crossbar, and the impressive Cunningham kept out Jennings’s follow-up shortly before the penalty which gave Manulla a deserved consolation goal. But the Sports Park remains, as Kenneth Gannon put it, a “fortress”. Unbeaten in competitive football at home in 2012 – whatever way you look at it, it’s been some year for United.
“We’re just delighted to be getting out of Mayo,” Westport’s joint manager Kieran Mulchrone told Midwest Radio. “Crettyard are flying – they’re third in the Carlow League at the moment. This is the stage of the competition you want to be at. You want to be getting out and playing [teams from] different counties. Mayo is one of the strongest counties around, so there’s no reason why the Mayo teams can’t go further.”

WESTPORT UNITED
G Cunningham, S Higgins, K Joyce, M Geraghty, J Lawless, D Browne, D Cameron, S Tagg, D Hoban, P Folan, C Keane.
Subs used: A Carroll for P Folan (52 mins); JP O’Gorman for D Browne (59 mins); K Browne for K Joyce (66 mins).

MANULLA
M Jennings, C McGlade, J Hennelly, P Canavan, B Cuffe, S Durkan, R Martyn, G Durkan, R Clarke, M Mongan, S Fadden.
Sub used: G Lohan for R Martyn (84 mins).

Referee: M Regan