Impressive Willow Park overwhelm Highfield to book place in next round

Defending champions Willow Park made light work of weaker opposition at Willow Park last Sunday afternoon, as the challenge of Highfield Utd was comprehensively swept aside in impressive fashion to set up a second round clash away to Stradbally Town. Two divisions and 19 league places separated these two sides going into Sunday"s cup clash. It was easy to see that league champions Willow, currently residing at the summit of the Senior Division, would have been seen as strong favourites to overturn Highfield who, by contrast, find themselves bottom of Division 1. And as it turned out, the match followed the form line. After ten minutes of controlled play, Willow deservedly hit the front on 13 minutes. Left-full Alan Kelly showed his attacking capabilities when he received the ball on the left wing, cut inside and sent a shot that, despite taking a deflection, managed to find the far corner of the net. A fortuitous deflection but a deserved 1-0 lead nonetheless. Centre-half Robert Shine went close to extending that lead on 16 minutes when he cut inside a Highfield challenge before drilling a shot toward goal. But his effort just cleared Simon Dempsey"s crossbar. Two minutes later, some hesitancy in the visiting defence nearly allowed Benny Magennis in on goal. But goalkeeper Dempsey was out quickly from his line to smother the danger. But it was only temporary respite for Highfield. On 21 minutes, an Aidan Hyland cross from the left wing fell to the feet of Mark Rigney. Rigney, with his back to goal, back-heeled the ball to Sean Brennan. Simon Dempsey appeared to have the situation under control, but Brennan managed to nick the ball around him and tap home to an empty net from a tight angle. It was a long way back now for Highfield and it could have got much worse had James Mullally managed to connect with a ball in behind the defence from the boot of Robert Shine. On 27 minutes, the visiting Birr side had their first opportunity when Nicky Molloy found himself in a bit of space on the edge of the Willow penalty area. But his ambitious volley flew well over Ian Bolger"s crossbar. Around the half-hour mark, Highfield began passing the ball around confidently for the first time. But Willow were in uncompromising mood after some sturdy defending, from Conor Frawley and Robert Shine in particular, the home side were soon back on top and searching for that third goal. And with the attacking trio of Hyland, Magennis and Brennan proving very tricky for the Highfield defence to handle, Willow looked like they could extend their two-goal lead at any moment. Alan Kelly, Mark Nicholson and Gary McHugh all went close to doing just that before the break, but Highfield somehow managed to hold out until half-time. It was a first-half dominated by Willow and the second wouldn"t be any different. It took just two minutes for the home side to extend their lead and effectively end the game as a contest. Aidan Hyland won the initial corner for Willow. The first attempt was blocked away for another corner but at the second time of asking Sean Brennan"s delivery was met by a towering header from Hyland that crept over the line through the legs of a defender. There was no way back for Highfield. Such was the extent of Willow"s dominance that Highfield were struggling even to string a few passes together. Willow, by contrast, were continuing to stroke the ball around the park confidently. And it went from bad to worse for the visitors when Paddy Egan was shown a second yellow card by referee Dermot Tone for a deliberate handball on the edge of the penalty area. However, Highfield should have grabbed a goal back on 62 minutes when Nicky Molloy beat his man along the end-line before squaring to Anthony Coughlan, who didn"t connect properly despite looking certain to score. Two minutes later, Aidan Hyland and Benny Magennis broke the offside trap and had just the "keeper to beat. Hyland unselfishly squared to Magennis but over-hit his pass and the chance was gone. Two minutes later, Alan Kelly took his time before cleverly playing substitute Martin McConnell through on goal. McConnell attempted an audacious scoop over the advancing "keeper but saw his effort clear the crossbar. On 67 minutes, Willow finally got it right again. Hyland played a one-two with Brennan. And with Simon Dempsey advancing to close the angle, Hyland squared to Magennis (this time getting it right), and the skilful Magennis skipped around a challenge before placing the ball to the unguarded net. Just a minute later, Magennis should have made it five when he intercepted a clearance and found himself through on goal. But this time his effort sliced off his boot and flew well wide. The final twenty minutes were a procession toward victory for Willow Park. Chances came and went until the 86th minute when Martin McConnell was finally rewarded for his hard work since being introduced as a substitute. After being played clean through on goal for the second time, this time McConnell decided to dispense with the fancy stuff and blasted the ball to the back of the net to round off a fine performance from Willow. Best for Willow were Aidan Hyland, who constantly threatened the Highfield defence down both flanks, Mark Nicholson and Gary McHugh, the latter duo controlling the game from centre-midfield, while the experienced duo of Shine and Frawley didn"t put a foot wrong at the back all day. WILLOW PARK: Ian Bolger; James Mullally; Alan Kelly; Conor Frawley; Robert Shine; Gary McHugh; Mark Rigney; Mark Nicholson; Benny Magennis; Sean Brennan; Aidan Hyland. Subs: Martin McConnell for Mark Rigney (54 mins); Earl Gaylard for James Mullally (54). HIGHFIELD UTD: Simon Dempsey; Frankie Gallagher; Martin Gallagher; Paddy Egan; Shane Guinan; Willie Shortt; Nicky Molloy; Leonard Kennedy; James Gallagher; Anthony Coughlan; Jason Murphy. Referee: Dermot Tone.