Kelly's goal sends Castlebar Celtic into Connacht Cup final

CONNACHT CUP SEMI-FINAL

Castlebar Celtic 1

Kelly 38

Salthill Devon 0

Celtic Park

Castlebar Celtic are through to the final of the Connacht Cup after a Luke Kelly goal, seven minutes before half time, was enough to separate the sides, in a thrilling match of high quality.

Either side could have won this one. There wasn’t the thickness of a cigarette paper between them. Salthill knocked on the door for much of the match, but got few clear chances from a magnificent Celtic rear-guard, led by captain, Ioseph O’Reilly and man of the match, Mark Cunningham.

Salthill drove forward for the 90 minutes. Timmy Molloy came closest when his shot came off the bar early on, and Vinny Faherty, Niall Rooney and Mick Lee all had half-chances, but couldn’t make the breakthrough.

For Celtic, Jordan Loftus sprayed long diagonal passes with surgical precision to Jason Hunt on the wing, but Kelly, Dylan Edwards and Oran Groarke just couldn’t connect with the necessary accuracy.

Salthill went home, heartbroken and annoyed. They will feel very hard done by, having to play a semi-final on the ground of their opponents; officiated by Mayo match officials; and with the circumstances of the Celtic goal, which looked blatantly offside. Whatever about the venue and origin of the officials, to have such an important and tight game, decided by a controversial goal, is tough to take. Celtic, on the other hand, will face Maree/Oranmore in the final in a few weeks, hoping to go one better than last season, (when they lost to Athenry on penalties,) in this, their centenary year.