Celtic land the silverware

Celtic land the silverware


FINAL
Castlebar Celtic 3
Ballina Town 0

Daniel Carey
Milebush Park

A LONG and topsy-turvy season ended on a high note for Castlebar Celtic when they picked up the Westaro Cup on Sunday afternoon. The trophy is the first won by the club since Declan Kilkelly took over as manager, and was thoroughly deserved.
But while the final scoreline suggests a walk in Milebush Park for Celtic, it wasn’t quite that easy. Ioseph O’Reilly’s first half header put them in front, but both of Neil Douglas’s goals came in the closing stages. The young substitute had a busy afternoon, as he featured in Castlebar Mitchels’ meeting with Charlestown before making the short trip to Milebush.
The game opened with some good football from both teams. Fergus Quinn played the ball into Benny Lavelle’s path, but the Ballina front man shot didn’t trouble Pádraic Crean. Seán Kelly and Declan Flynn looked solid in the air, and Celtic went close after 12 minutes, when a corner by the influential Tom King picked out Stevie Ryan, but Peyton did well to turn the defender’s header over the bar. James Minogue shot wide from the resultanr corner. But Ballina, for whom Derek Tansey was solid at the back, had their chances too. The best came after 19 minutes. Again it was following a corner kick, as Seán Kelly headed towards goal and Crean fumbled before Celtic cleared.
The opening goal came after 27 minutes. Celtic broke down the left, Ronan O’Boyle played in a peach of a cross, and Ioseph O’Reilly was at the back post to head home. Celtic had two good opportunities to add to their tally before half time, both the result of good work by the speedy Tom King. Seán McHale should have scored from close range after 36 minutes, but fired over the top, while O’Reilly headed just wide from a tight angle in what was almost a carbon copy of his goal. Niall Walsh also had a go with a decent left-footed drive, but it was still 1-0 at the break.
Ioseph O’Reilly almost grabbed a second soon after the restart, but Peyton saved his header in spectacular fashion. Seán McHale went down appealing for a Celtic penalty, but referee Pat Foley showed him a yellow card, ruling that he had been guilty of ‘simulation’. Andy Neary would suffer a similar fate before the end, though it didn’t appear to be either a dive or a penalty. By then, in any case, Celtic were 2-0 up.
Ballina’s best chances of the second half both involved substitutes. First, Michael Duffy’s effort through a crowded penalty area was saved by Crean. Then Eugene Gorman linked up with Clive Gilmartin, who lobbed the ball across goal only to see Niall Walsh clear it out for a corner.
After that initial flurry, Celtic had to make do with half chances for much of the second half. But Seán McHale, who had two efforts blocked, played a part in the decisive second goal, flicking on Crean’s kickout to Neil Douglas. The substitute (who replaced the injured O’Reilly) may have been 40 yards out when he unleashed an ambitious effort that ended up going beyond the retreating Peyton and into the net.
And the young man wasn’t done yet. Having linked up with Ronan O’Boyle before releasing Tom King (whose attempted lob was headed off the line), Douglas added a more conventional second goal before the end. Peyton got a hand to this one, but couldn’t keep it out, and the young Hoops had silverware to celebrate.

CASTLEBAR CELTIC
P Crean, N Walsh, J Minogue, D Flynn, S Ryan, A Neary, I O’Reilly, P Fitzgerald, R O’Boyle, S McHale, T King. Subs used: N Douglas for O’Reilly (inj); R Coyne for Walsh; F McHale for Fitzgerald.

BALLINA TOWN
E Peyton, T O’Connor, D Helly, D Tansey, M Knight, G Grant, P Devers, S Kelly, B Lavelle, F Quinn, E Gorman. Subs used: M Duffy for Lavelle; A Melia for Devers; C Gilmartin for Quinn.

Referee: P Foley