Kevin Toner lines out in Copa del Rey

SOCCER

Ashbourne man Kevin Toner made an appearance off the bench for La Nucia in yesterday's Copa Del Rey clash with top La Liga side Elche, but he couldn't prevent his new club from slipping to a narrow 0-1 loss.

In their last game of 2020 Elche were up against a Real Madrid defence that included Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Daniel Caravajal and Marcelo and came away with a deserved 1-1 draw in La Liga.

However on Wednesday Toner, who had started the previous game for the Spanish third tier side, started on the bench before being introduced after 55 minutes to the heart of La Nucia defence with his side already behind following Boyé's goal immediately after half-time.

La Nucia, who are based 8km north of the Spanish resort of Benidorm booked their place in the second round of the Copa Del Rey for the first time last month with a 1-0 win over fellow Segunda B (third tier) club Calahorra, during which Toner was also introduced as a substitute.

Toner played with St Patrick’s Athletic in the League of Ireland and made 59 appearances during a two-year spell that came to an end following the conclusion of the 2019 season.

Having relocated to Spain shortly after leaving Richmond Park, the 24-year-old centre-back was signed by La Nucia in September.

The former Republic of Ireland u-19 international has experience of testing himself against top-class opposition from his time in England, where he spent five-and-a-half years on Aston Villa’s books.

He made four Premier League appearances as a 19-year-old during the 2015/16 season, coming up against attacking players of the calibre of Sadio Mane (Southampton), Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) and Odion Ighalo (Watford).

Toner also gained further senior experience with loan spells at Kidderminster Harriers, Walsall, Bradford City and Stevenage before leaving Villa to join St Pat’s ahead of the 2018 League of Ireland Premier Division campaign.

He helped the Inchicore outfit to back-to-back fifth-place finishes, as well as featuring in a Europa League tie against Swedish outfit IFK Norrköping.

Although Elche are not one of the heavyweights of Spanish club football, they showed their capability by putting a dent in Real Madrid’s title bid at the end of December.

Zinedine Zidane’s side had been on a run of six consecutive victories in all competitions before they were held to a 1-1 draw by Elche, who sit in 17th place.