Newbridge Town welcomed Moone Celtic on to the Astroturf pitch on a cold sunny morning.  After15 minutes of probing, Newbridge tested goalie Peter Coogan who made a stunning save with the rebound goal chalked off for called off-side.  Moone woke up after that and Mark McGinley found space around a cluttered goalmouth to drive home a shot which the keeper couldn’t hold on to.  Midfield was a battleground, with some hard-fought balls which on balance Moone kept winning.  Cian Moody kept possession in the middle, while Ben Matuschka had a fight on his hands against his opponent to keep sending the long balls forward.  Steven Gray, Conall Mc Bride and Jack Flood were tremendous in defence, uniting with Coogan to set up a wall which Newbridge couldn’t get through.

The second half opened with an early goal for Moone, a looping shot over the goalie’s head by Scott Keogh.  Newbridge quickly replied with a similar shot over the head of Moone’s keeper.  Jack Moran entered a ten minute spell where you could see he was focused on scoring, and on the third opportunity, he drove it home.  Moone had their tails up now, but sat back a little to allow Newbridge’s striker to lob in another goal.  Pulling themselves together, Moone regained control until the final whistle.  Best players for Moone: Jordan Keogh, Tomas O’Brien & Stephen Casey.