FORMIDABLE FERMANAGH, FIVE-STAR Man Utd!
Manchester United’s Irish contingent felt right at home as they weighed in to help bury little Leichtenstein under an avalanche of goals in the Premier Milk Cup.
Glengormley lad Craig Cathcart started the ball rolling for Paul McGuinness’ team after 14 minutes then Conor McCormack cracked home a long range belter to leave the national side reeling on the end of a five-goal deluge.
In between Dubliner Christopher Fagan picked a brace and Febian Brandy also got in on the act to please a large crowd who cheered on the Red Devils’ mini marvels.
Cathcart struck after the Leichtenstein defence failed to deal with a ball into the box. The rising star controlled the ball and planted a right foot shot past the keeper.
Two goals in quick succession sealed United’s victory. Fagan side footed the ball home and within two minutes brilliant Brandy cut in from the left flank before rounding the keeper to score.
When Brandy was brought crashing to the ground inside the box early in the second half Fagan stepped up to convert the resulting penalty.
Two minutes from time McCormack put Leichtenstein out of their misery with a stunning finish.
Last year’s beaten finalists Chelsea kicked off their campaign with a 2-1 win over a resilient County Antrim at Ballymena Showgrounds. Sergio Terjara and Jack Cork were on target for the Stamford Bridge outfit and Ryan McLoughlin’s reply make sure of an intriguing contest to the final whistle.
Top Ulster side were County Fermanagh who eclipsed FC Brussels 3-1 with gols fro Ryan Smyth, Andrew Little and Richard Flaherty. Boss John Quinn praised his players for a superb performance: “We weren’t given much chance going into it but the lads were terrific throughout the entire game,” he said.
County Armagh put up a solid show against Spartak Moscow but went down 2-1. John McLoughlin scored for the Ulster side but Artur Maloyan and Alexandr Yaroslavtsev made sure of the points for the Russians.
Mark Okoko’s goal was enough to give Sheffield United victory over San Francisco Seals while four goals from Cherry Orchard’s Niall Fitzmaurice gave the Dublin side a comfortable win over New Zealand’s Otago.
Carlos Santos earned FC Porto a point with his strike against Rapid Vienna.
County Down held Mexico’s talented Cruz Azul to a scoreless draw while County Londonderry went down 1-0 to Universidad Catolica.
Bayern Munich were too strong for Malta. Goals from Christoph Hasselmeier, Florian Elender and Yannick Kakoko were enough to secure success.
RESULTS
FC Porto 1, Rapid Vienna 1;Otago 0, Cherry Orchard 4; FC Brussels 1, Co. Fermanagh 3; TuS Altenberge 0, Co. Tyrone 0; Sheffield Utd 1, San Francisco Seals 0; Spartak Moscow 2, Co. Armagh 1; Cruz Azul 0, Co. Down 0; Chelsea 2, Co. Antrim 1; Universidad Catolica 1, Co. Londonderry 0; Bayern Munich 3, Malta 0; Manchester Utd 5, Leichtenstein 0.
http://www.nimilkcup.org/?module=datalistdetail&itemid=3a3ef005-d349-42b2-9861-31edc056d4c9&mid=736