Celtic advance after blood and thunder derby clash with old rivals

FAI Junior Cup

Castlebar Celtic 1

Westport United 0

In Castlebar

THE latest derby clash between the 'Old Firm' of Mayo soccer ended with Castlebar Celtic retaining their dominance despite a big effort from their Westport guests. 

The blood and thunder encounter was hard-fought from start to finish with big tackles, lots of huff and puff and no lack of effort, but top quality moments were few and far between. Instead, this was a battle of wills and despite a gallant effort from United, they rarely looked like beating Peter Basquille in the Celtic goal. 

The match was decided by a stunning goal from Eoghan Hughes after 37 minutes. The impressive Mark Cunningham sent in a  perfect diagonal cross from the right wing and the big striker rose highest to send a looping header over Westport 'keeper Gary Cunningham.

The lead was deserved, given Celtic's control of the midfield area in that period and Jason Hunt's eye-catching wing play. 

The guests could and should have equalised just before the break, but team captain Jack Dawson was denied by Basquille and Kevin Kitterick just failed to connect with the follow-up.

That's as close as United came to balancing matters although Kitterick asked questions of Basquille and his back four when the ball was played over the top.

Celtic absorbed Westport's efforts in the second period with their full-backs Cunningham and Ben McHale working tirelessly and centre-halves Ioseph O'Reilly and Brian Walsh outstanding.

United continued to look for an avenue back into contention but they created little in attack. The home side had the composure and experience to see the game out and advance to the next round of a competition both clubs hold very dear.