Celtic Bhoys Turn Up The Heat On Belfast Celtic At Ballyhornan 3G
Last season Celtic Bhoys lost their opportunity to get through to the final of the Cochrane Corry Cup by a whisker but this year they have their sights sets on getting to the final following their win over Belfast Celtic in a round two clash at Ballyhornan writes Jim Masson.
For the first 15 minutes, Belfast Celtic turned on the pressure and looked as though they were going to take an early goal, but Celtic Bhoys held firm and worked theri way back into the game.
Celtic Bhoys started without Mickey Rice and Gerdy Collins who were unavailable and Nathan Curran was nursing an injury, but they were quietly optimistic. But Belfast Celtic are positioned second top of the NAFL Division 2A while the home side were second top of 2B and a tough match was expected.
(Photos by Jim Masson/Down News©).
The first real effort for Celtic Bhoys came at 11 minutes when Sean Ferris charged the visitor’s box and was taken down yards outside. Ferris free kick went through the wall and just wide of the goal. He was getting fired up!
Then Belfast Celtic broke forwards and John Brady almost nodded in a short header, a first real challenge to Stephen Moore, Celtic Bhoys keeper. But Moore was on form and held the ball well.
Jarleth Branagan started to work well then for the Bhoys feeding passes up front and taking the odd volley.
Then on 22 minutes as the Belfast side pressed forward, they won a penalty when Blaine Connolly fouled Michael Nolan. John Brady hit a solid low strike but Moore read it well and dived left and blocked it. And at this point, the game seemed to turn more towards Celtic Bhoys – they could not believe their luck getting off the hook.
Check 21 match photos on Down. News Facebook Page by Jim Masson.
Branagan passed on a break to Ferris who volleyed low and Niall Burns put the ball out for a corner. Branagan almost nailed the header but it was a fraction over the bar. Branagan and Ferris started playing well together and this combination caused the Belfast Celtic defence many headaches – on one occasion Ferris forced keeper Monaghan to punch out a powerful shot on target.
Both teams were making efforts to score but it was the home side who struck first. From about 30 yards, Jarlath Branagan launched a vicious kick striking the middle of the net. There was palpable relief from the Celtic Bhoys players and the supporters at Branagan’s screacher of a goal in the 36th minute.
Then in the 44th minute, when Celtic Bhoys had gone up a gear now brimming with confidence, Sean Ferris found space from a Branagan pass through and struck hitting the crossbar only to knock the ball in on the rebound. This put Celtic Bhoys in a sound position just before half-time at 2 up.
But they were under no illusion that they would be safe even with a two goal cushion.
Celtic Bhoys came out fired up in the second half and again went into attack mode, but Belfast Celtic broke forward and Gary Marron almost drew a goal back but hit over the bar.
Then Branagan who was relentless made a pin-point cross on 51 minutes from the left to winger Connail Kerr who made no mistake claiming the third goal to the jubilation of the home supporters.
Belfast Celtic tried to fight back but the Hoops had their Teflon shirts on and keeper Stephen Moore was in top form as the visitors hit another volley over the bar.
Then Celtic Bhoys applied more pressure and won a corner, taken by Shaun Megahey who sailed the ball to the head of Eamon Dargan who nodded in past helpless keeper Monaghan on 58 minutes, and still Belfast Celtic were goal-less.
The Hoops were running through the visitors who seemed shell-shocked and they were even more devastated when Connail Kerr bagged his second goal close in in a goal mouth scramble on 65 minutes.
Check 21 match photos on Down. News Facebook Page by Jim Masson.
By this time Belfast Celtic had become frustrated and were clinically a spent force. Jarlath Branagan was the only Celtic Bhoys player to pick up a yellow card but the visitors collected 4 yellows throughout the game which did get physical towards the end as there was no path to recover for Belfast Celtic.
Celtic Bhoys from the start played exceptionally well as a team with outstanding contributions from Moore, Branagan, Ferris and Kerr, but to be honest, the whole team deserve a great big pat on the back.
Good luck in the next round Celtic Bhoys.
Celtic Bhoys: 1 Stephen Moore (GK) 2 Shaun Megahey (C) 3 Eamon Gargan 4 Blaine Connolly 5 Peter Turley 6 Jay Gibney 7 Corey McCartan 8 Jordan Curran 9 Sean Ferris 10 Jarlath Branagan 11 Conaill Kerr. Subs: 12 Peter Casey 14 Ciaran McMenamin 16 Callum McCarthy.
Belfast Celtic: 1 Gary Monaghan (GK) 3 Niall Burns 4 Christopher Harris (C) 5 Conor Downey 7 Gary Marron 8 Scott Thompson 10 Tomas Diamond 14 Gerard McShane 16 Tiegernan Ó Mealaigh l7 Michael Nolan 18 John Brady. Subs: 6 Sean O’Hanlon 12 Emmett McCabe 15 Paul Downey.
