Castlebar Celtic win the Connacht Junior Cup

Connacht Junior Cup Final

Maree Oranmore 1

M Black '33 

Castlebar Celtic 2

L Kelly '34 J Loftus 45+3

In Lecarrow

LECARROW became a sea of green and white this afternoon after Castlebar Celtic clinched 'La Decima' by winning their tenth Connacht Cup in their history.

Goals from Luke Kelly and Jordan Loftus were the winning of a tough, competitive game against a Maree/Oranmore team that spared no quarter.

It was a game that the 100-year-old club could have won by more, and to Maree/Oranmore's credit, they were in it right until the end.

Despite not being quite at their best, the Mayo Super League champions never looked threatened on a day when their inspirational captain Ioseph O'Reilly gave one of the finest performances of his career.

Even though their play was disjointed and perhaps overly ambitious at times, Celtic were well and truly the better team as they wrote another chapter in their 100-year history.

The Mayo lads had most of the chances in the first half-hour, but still fell behind after Maree Oranmore captain Malachy Black bundled home a ball after a shot from Liam McDonagh that had been blocked on the line initially by Celtic's Cathal Coyne.

Within two minutes, Stevie Gavin's men were back level again with Luke Kelly tapping it in after a super ball in from Jason Hunt on the wing.

The first half was well into injury time when Kelly directed a free kick into the box that was flicked into the net by the head of Jordan Loftus, leaving Celtic 1-0 up at half-time.

Despite never hitting top gear, Celtic still played the better football in the second half and had plenty of chances to extend their lead.

They thought they'd made it 3-1 in the 57th minute, but Dylan Edwards' splendidly taken free that nestled in the bottom right corner was disallowed as Luke Kelly was deemed to be interfering with the goalkeeper.

Maree/Oranmore's chances were limited by a Celtic team that failed get the insurance score but ultimately prevailed to secure one of the greatest cup wins in their recent history.

Afterwards, Castlebar Celtic captain Ioseph O'Reilly launched a scathing attack on the Connacht FA over the handling of the referees’ appointment saga that led to their 1-0 cup semi-final win over Salthill Devon being ordered to be replayed. The re-fixture was subsequently shelved following an appeal from Castlebar Celtic.

A provincial campaign hallmarked by several twists, turns, re-fixed games, appeals and counter-appeals has come to a glorious end for what is now the most successful club in the history of the Connacht Cup.

A full report, plus reaction from the Castlebar Celtic camp will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News.