Celtic happy to be home

Celtic happy to stay at home

Daniel Carey

CASTLEBAR Celtic are just 90 minutes away from securing a place in the FAI Senior Cup. Gavin Dykes’s side have at last been handed a home draw in the quarter-final of the Umbro-sponsored FAI Junior Cup – and should they beat St Michael’s from Tipperary next Sunday week, they will be into Ireland’s top knockout competition.
The semi-finalists in the Junior Cup also qualify for the senior competition, which Dykes won as captain with Sligo Rovers in 1994. But the Celtic manager has more immediate priorities – starting with back-to-back home games.
Dykes joked some weeks ago that the team from the county town could build houses on Celtic Park, such was the lack of home games the draw had dealt them. But after trips to Tralee, Inishowen and Mayfield in Cork, the ‘miracle’ the Sligo man prayed for has come true.
“We’ve a home draw, which is great,” he told The Mayo News. “It’ll be a tough match, we know that. St Michael’s are one of the favourites, and they’ve a lot of quality in their team. But at least it’s at home. We’ve a Connacht Cup game on Sunday against Corrib Rangers, which is another game that’s going to be difficult. So we’ve a couple of tough weeks coming up.”
Shane Hynes is still on the injured list, while Gerard O’Boyle received eight stitches for a cut he received playing for Mayo in Sunday’s Oscar Traynor Cup match. The full-back’s fitness will be reassessed later in the week. The game has been scheduled for the weekend of Sunday, March 2, along with two of the other three quarter-finals.
The ‘odd game out’ could involve Ballina Town who will play Clonmel Town away in their last eight game should they get past Killester United or Ballynanty Rovers in the seventh round. Having returned returned from a holiday in South Africa, reigning cup holders Killester will finally host the Limerick side next weekend, with the winners to meet Ballina Town on March 2.
Town’s star striker Michael Duffy has resumed light training after his long-term absence, but definitely won’t start on Sunday week. The front man ‘might be on the bench’, according to manager Brendan Kenny, but a final decision on his availability is unlikely to be taken before next week.
Kenny hopes to get a look at the opposition next weekend, but is concerned at Ballina’s lack of games – last week’s Connacht Cup defeat to Carbury was their only competitive outing since beating St Kevin’s Boys on January 20.
“You cannot beat matches. In any sport, you need match sharpness, and competitive games,” he told The Mayo News. “But we’ll give it a go. There’s no pressure on us anyway. We’ll go up with the same approach as before. We’ll give it our best shot; that’s all you can ask.”

FAI JUNIOR CUP
quarter-finals
Redcastle United v Carrick United; Castlebar Celtic v St Michael’s, Tipperary; Corduff United v Manorhamilton Rangers; Clonmel Town v Ballina Town/Killester United/Ballynanty Rovers.

Mayo AFL
fixtures
Sunday, February 24 (2pm)
Connacht Junior Cup Round Five.
Carbury FC v Erris United (McSharry Park); Castlebar Celtic v Corrib Rangers (P Foley, J Cawley, M McCay; Westport United v West United (L McEntee, H Loftus, A Nevin).