Round 3 Samuel Gelston’s Whiskey Irish Cup
St James’ Swifts 2 (3 penalties) – 2 (4 penalties) Crewe United
Crewe Park
CREWE United went through to round 4 of the Irish Cup after a dramatic and unexpected penalty shootout against St James’ Swifts.
A goalless game led to Swifts getting their first goal in during the first half of extra time. Crewe’s confidence seemed to falter during the first half of extra time when Ciaran Hyland got in the goal.
It seemed to falter futher into the end of the first half of extra time when Sean Donnelly got another one in for the Swifts, but Crewe surprised everyone in the second half, by fighting back, getting two in in a matter of minute to equalise, with a penalty being scored by Connor Maxwell and another goal by Michael McQuitty to equalise and send the game to penalties.
The game began in the pouring rain, which didn’t help play, and certainly counted towards the number of near misses both sides experienced during the course of the first half. There were some great attempts made, such as when Swifts’ Mark McDonald crossed it to Ciaran Hyland who attempted the header, but the shot missed.
Swifts’ had another excellent chance, a free kick taken by Sean Donnelly, which was passed to Ciaran Rooney who belted it at the goal, only for the ball to sail over the net.
Crewe had a number of good chances too, with Aaron Harmon taking a good shot, but it was saved by Swifts’ ‘keeper Conan Russell. Noel Halfpenny also got in a good cross to Rhys Calvert who took a blatter with the header, but it missed.
With the hard weather on, it led to some bad tackles on both sides, but they didn’t appear to have been down to any cruel intentions, rather a case of the rain making the tackles worse than intentioned, however it did lead to three yellow cards being issued, two to Crewe’s Connor Maxwell and Dylan Whiteway, and Swifts’ Niall Peoples.
At half-time Crewe made two substitutions, with Conald McDonald and Ryan McNally coming off for Gerard McMullan and Eamon McAllister.
The rain eased off just into the first half, but things still remained slippery on the pitch, helping to earn Swifts’ Mark McDonald a yellow card around the one hour mark.
From 60 to 75 minutes there was a lot of action, but none of it yielding any results unfortunately. Crewe’s Eamon McAllister had a go, but it went over, this was followed by Swifts’ Francis Nolan and Crewe’s Gerard McMullan taking shots, but both of these two attempts from both sides went wide to the left hand side.
GOING FOR GOAL: Swifts' had a number of great chances before getting two goals in extra time
With 65 minutes in the West Belfast men made two substitutions with Niall Peoples and Daniel Wilson coming off for Jay Leckey and Joseph McCall coming on. The Glenavy men made another substitution a few minutes later with Jamie Devenny coming on and Rhys Calvert coming off.
There were attempts from both Swifts’ and Crewe in the waning minutes of the second half, but the real action didn’t begin until the first half of extra time when Ciaran Hyland scored a great goal, beating Crewe’s defence to chip it in. The rain at this point began to belt down again, but it didn’t stop Sean Donnelly putting another one in just before the end of the first half of extra time to put the West Belfast men two goals up.
Swifts’ made a slip up into the second half of extra time when a bad tackle saw Michael Fenrick get a red card for a bad tackle, and lead to Crewe being awarded the penalty, which allowed Conor Maxwell to score, giving some life back to the Glenavy men.
Before their next goal, Crewe made another substitution with Aaron Harmon coming off and Ronan Brannigan coming on.
In the final moment of the second half of extra time, it looked like Swifts’ were going to clinch it when Michael McQuitty scored the equaliser, meaning the game would go on to penalties.
FT AET & Penalties: Crewe United 5 St James’ Swifts 4 #intothehat #irishcup #itsalwaysredandwhite
— Crewe United F.C. (@creweutdfc) October 29, 2022
The first penalty was taken by Ciaran Rooney for Swifts’ and sailed in, and Crewe fumbled their first go next, with Conor Maxwell failing to do what he’d done earlier and nail the penalty.
Swifts’ likewise got in their second penalty, scored by Joseph McCall, but Crewe’s Michael McQuitty got theirs in too.
The third penalty went in for Swifts’, though just about, hitting off ‘keeper Christian Matson to sail in. Eamon McAllister next got in Crewe’s penalty.
For the fourth penalty, Swifts’ chance, taken by Ciaran Hyland was saved by Matson, and both teams equalised their scores when Crewe’s Dylan Whiteway got theirs in the back of the net.
All the pressure was on Sean Donnelly for the West Belfast men to get the next one, but sadly it missed, and the deal was sealed when Gerard McMullan of Crewe came in to score the winning penalty putting Crewe through to Round 4 of the Irish Cup.
DISAPPOINTMENT: Swifts' lost out to Crewe in Round 3 of the Irish Cup by one penalty
CREWE UNITED: C Matson, T McAuley, C Maxwell (Goal 110 mins), D Whiteway (Penalty), M McQuitty (Goal 120 mins, Penalty), N Halfpenny, C McDonald, A Harmon, R Calvert, R McNally, T Mulvenna
SUBS: R Brannigan, G McMullan (Penalty), E McAllister (Penalty), J Devenny, D Smiley
ST JAMES’ SWIFTS: C Russell, M Fenrick, D McHugh, N Peoples, D Wilson, M McDonald (Penalty), S Donnelly (Goal 105 mins), C Rooney (Penalty), C Hyland (Goal 99 mins), J Savage, F Nolan
SUBS: J Leckey, J McCall (Penalty), D Mullan, T McGrath, C Norney
