The NADAFL.
Bobby Dalzell Cup Cup Tie 2nd Round.
Celtic Bhoys 7 3 Ballynagross FC
Ballynagross travelled to near neighbours Celtic Boys at Ballyhornan for this Bobby Dalzell cup tie full of hope and expectation writes Cyril McKinney.
By half-time the visitors had been steamrolled by a hungry Celtic Boys team with two strikers on top form.
Right from the first whistle the game was played at a frantic pace with both teams quickly closing each other down, chasing and fighting for every ball
The first goal came on 15 minutes from Celtic Boys Jay Gibney with a quality finish from just inside the left side of the box when he rifled a powerful shot past the despairing dive of Arnold in the Ballynagross net.
Four minutes later his strike partner Jordan McCoubrey was sent through on goal and doubled the lead rifling a low shot past the advancing keeper from 10 yards out.
Ballynagross to their credit responded on 21 minutes when Jo Jo Burns finished well after great approach work by the lively Luke Shields.
However, any Ballynagross hope of a fightback was over in the space of six minutes when Gibney volleyed home a great right wing cross from Megahey on 34 minutes and then on 40 minutes McCoubrey latched on to a knock-back in front of goal and drilled the ball into the bottom corner from 8 yards out to leave the interval score at 4-1 to the home side.
The scoring continued early in the second half and after great approach work from Williams and McCabe, he set up McCoubrey for his hat trick on 51 minutes.
Both sides made changes as the pace of the game seemed to slow down, and to their credit Ballynagross continued to press forward and reduced the deficit on 64 minutes when substitute Mahoney finished off a left wing cross from Shields with a looping header over the advancing Curran in the Celtic Boys net.
Gibney completed his hatrick on 70 minutes with a clinical finish following great work again from Williams-McCabe and he went one better than his strike partner on 85 minutes when he latched on to a loose ball in the Ballynagross box and fired to the net.
The scoring was not finished as Ballynagross showed character and kept trying right to the end and were rewarded in the final minute when sub Mahoney bundled the ball into the Celtic Boys net to leave the final score 7-3 to the home side.
Celtic Boys were on their game from the first whistle and never allowed the visitors to settle or get a foothold on the game.
Despite the defeat Ballynagross kept trying and had some good performances from the lively Jo Jo Burns upfront, substitute Mahoney who bagged two goals and the evergreen Kieran Taggart in the middle of the park.
However the day belonged to Celtic Bhoys and their twin strikeforce of Gibney and McCoubrey who were both clinical in front of goal, but it was an overall great team performance.
***
Celtic Bhoys: Nathan Curran, Shaun Megahey, Ruairi Quinn, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Blaine Connolly, Michael Rice, Corey McCartan, Peter Casey, Jay Gibney, Jordan McCoubrey , Nergus Williams-McCabe. Subs: Barry Tracey for Peter Casey, Gary Carberry for Ryan Fitzpatrick , Michael Burns for Corey McCartan, Jason Dagens, Conaill Kerr
Ballynagross FC: Cathail Arnold, Deaglan Craig,Tom Savage, Corey Davis, Connor Marron, Karl Johnston, Kieran Taggart, John Shields, Luke Shields, Joseph Burns, Shea McComiskey. Subs: Ryan Tumelty, Thomas McNeill, John Mahoney for Shea McComiskey
