Arranmore, Strand, Glenea and Glencar seal Voodoo Venue semi-final spots

THE SEMI-FINALISTS of the Voodoo Venue Cup have now been decided following Saturday’s fixtures with Arranmore United, Strand Rovers, Glenea United and Glencar Celtic reaching the last four.

St. Catherines Reserves 3-3 Arranmore United 

(Arranmore United won 5-4 on penalties )

Arranmore United (pictured above) held their nerve to see off St Catherine’s on penalties at Emerald Park.

Gerry Early’s side never fell behind in what was a ding-dong battle. Arranmore took the lead through Christopher McGlanaghey but Barry Cannon equalised for the home side. Declan Proctor reinstated the advantage for the Islanders but again Cannon levelled.

David Ward then put Arranmore ahead, for the third time, but not to be outdone Eamonn Bonner replied for St Catherines Reserves. It 3-3 ended and that is how it stood after extr- time so it took the penalty shoot-out to separate the sides. Arranmore prevailed by 5-4 and now have a Voodoo Venue Cup semi-final to look forward to.

Strand Rovers 4-1 Donegal Town Reserves 

Strand Rovers had too much for Doengal Town reserves at Maghery.

Both teams started off slowly but Strand created most of the chances in the first 10 minutes with Brendan Glackin having numerous chances but failing to hit the target.

The scoreline changed though after 11 minutes when Shane McMillan stole the ball off the Donegal defence and slotted home to make it 1-0.

Donegal Town then sprang to life and drew level after only a few minutes when chaos in the Strand defence allowed the equaliser.

Donegal with the bit between their teeth piled on the pressure but Strand captain Brendan Brennan struck from distance to make it 2-1 to the home side at the break.

The second half saw possession shared by both teams before a wonder strike from Darragh Hanlon from distance put the home side 3-1 up. Rather than sit back Strand pushed forward and substitute David McCarron tucked another away, after a nice bit of play, to seal a semi-final place for the Strand men. 

Cappry Rovers Reserves 1-4     Glenea United Reserves 

Glenea United were comfortable winners of Cappry Rovers on Saturday.

The visitors took the lead in the 39th minute when Shane Ferry finished well from inside the box.

In the 44th minute Glenea made it 2-0 when Ciaran Boyce scored with a fine finish over the keeper Liam O’Meara in the Cappry net.

In the 52nd minute Glenea made it 3-0 when Ciaran Boyce tapped into an empty net following a mistake in the Cappry defence. It was 4-0 in the 65th minute when Ciaran Mc Geady added another for the visitors.

Cappry never gave up and got a goal back when Conor Mc Glynn scored with a fine volley from the edge of the box. 

Glenree United Reserves 1-2 Glencar Celtic

The contest between Glenree United and Glencar Celtic came alight in the second half with the away team progressing.

It was Glencar who started the brighter in the second half and duly broke the deadlock when Paddy O’ Kane finished well from a rebound that was too hot to hold for the Glenree keeper.

The away side doubled their lead on 75minutes when Declan Scanlon won the ball and brought a good save from the Glenree keeper that rebounded back to Scanlon who made no mistake with the follow up.

Glenree pulled a goal back through Karl Mc Elhinney who placed his shot past the keeper from the edge of the box. Glenree continued to apply the pressure and almost forced extra time when John Doherty was denied from close range with a headed effort.