Celtic reach Boyle-ing point
QUARTER-FINAL
Castlebar Celtic 1
St Michael’s 0
Daniel Carey
Castlebar CASTLEBAR Celtic have been involved in their fair share of blockbusters, and this FAI Junior Cup quarter-final will have its hallowed place in a so far neverending story.
The winner – which was either a Gerard O’Boyle corner kick or a Ray McMahon OG, depending on who you asked – came after just 13 minutes.
But the rest of Sunday’s game at Celtic Park certainly didn’t lack incident. St Michael’s had what looked like a good penalty appeal turned down in the closing stages, and had a goal correctly disallowed for offside. Moreover, both of Castlebar Celtic’s two goalkeepers made outstanding saves.
But the men from the county town did not merely hang on by their fingernails. Gary Price, Pat Fitzgerald and Ioseph O’Reilly all went close to netting goals of their own. Moreover, the mud which dotted man of the match Gerry Burke from head to toe was testament to his all-action impression of the Duracell bunny.
In fact, Burke had the first chance of the game, curling a free kick around the wall only for St Michael’s goalkeeper Alan Kiely to claim it. Mick Wallace saved from David Ryan at the other end, and then caught a ‘garryowen’-style effort from Jason Sutton that might well have had snow on it.
After 12 minutes, a great delivery from Stevie Ryan picked out Burke, whose cross from the right found Price on the edge of the box. The youngster met the ball on the half-volley, but goalkeeper Kiely just managed to get a fingertip to his powerful drive.
O’Boyle whipped in the resultant corner kick, and though it seemed that McMahon inadvertently turned it into the net, the Celtic team headed en masse for their full back. Manager Gavin Dykes, mindful of an immediate response, wasn’t caught up in the celebrations and warned his side to ‘tune in’. The Sligo man, for one, had his doubts over whether the goal was O’Boyle’s to claim, if an exchange he had with his number three is anything to go by!
Still 1-0 at the break then, and the third quarter was largely forgettable apart from an incident which came four minutes after the restart. Pat Quinn was one of three St Michael’s players inside the Celtic defence, but his ill-fated decision to pass to a better-placed colleague, Paul Kennedy, saw the resultant goal rightly ruled out for offside.
Celtic lost Stevie Ryan to injury ten minutes into the second half, and his replacement Declan Flynn immediately made his mark with a good header. John Maughan was withdrawn ten minutes later, with Ioseph O’Reilly introduced in his stead. But chances were few and far between until, with 20 minutes remaining, Mick Wallace saved at point-blank range from Paul Breen, who had made space for himself at the back post. But it came at a cost for the Scot, who finally lost his battle with injury and was withdrawn.
St Michael’s were finally beginning to press and Jason Sutton shot into the side-netting after Seán McHale had denied David Ryan with a superb tackle. Andy Neary found the non-stand equivalent of Row Z with a no-nonsense clearance, but Celtic looked capable of scoring again. Gerry Burke continued to harass the visitors’ defence, and Pat Fitzgerald exchanged passes with O’Boyle before shooting narrowly wide.
But the Tipperary outfit came within a whisker of scoring seven minutes from full time. James Walsh’s cross found Jason Sutton, whose strong header was wonderfully turned over the crossbar by Celtic’s sub goalkeeper Neil McNicholas.
Shortly afterwards, David Ryan appeared to be tripped by Minogue inside the penalty area, but referee Ray Flynn waved away St Michael’s protests, and the over-vociferous nature of their complaints saw two men ejected from the dugout.
Celtic fans knew their team had been kindly treated, and when Burke was seemingly fouled just inside the opposing half moments later, one wag shouted ‘penalty!’ Neither a spot kick nor a free was forthcoming on this occasion, however.
In fact, the men in yellow finished the game stronger, and had two decent opportunities before the end.
On both occasions, Burke turned provider for O’Reilly, but the hard-working substitute saw one effort go over and the other saved. Five tense minutes of injury time finally ended seconds later. Carrick United stand between Celtic and a shot at the big one.
CASTLEBAR CELTIC
M Wallace, N Walsh, G O’Boyle, A Neary, G Price, S Ryan, G Burke, S McHale, P Fitzgerald, J Maughan, J Minogue. Subs used: D Flynn for Ryan (55 mins, inj); I O’Reilly for Maughan (65 mins); N McNicholas for Wallace (73 mins, inj).
ST MICHAEL’S
A Kiely, P Tobin, C Higgins,
P Breen, J Walsh, S McGrath, J Sutton, R McMahon, D Ryan, P Kennedy, P Quinn. Subs used: R Kiely for McGrath (59 mins); M Fitzgerald
for Tobin (60 mins, inj); M Roach
for Quinn (71 mins).
Referee: R Flynn (Sligo)
