Ardglass suffer defeat at hands of Celtic Bhoys
The Newcastle and District Amateur Football League,
Premier Division,
League Match, The Meadow Ardglass,
Saturday 25th February,
Ardglass FC 1 6 Celtic Boys.
Both teams went into this league encounter looking for a win to keep them in the race for the title and right from the first whistle the visitors looked sharp and more purposeful in possession writes Cyril McKinney.
Ardglass linitially looked lacklustre and struggled to get into the game and by half-time found themselves 3-0 down.
Jarleth Branagan opened the scoring on 6 minutes receiving the ball from a quick throw-in on the left wing and as he let the ball run across him he volleyed the ball from the edge of the box in front of the goal.
The ball flew into the top right corner before James Crangle in the Ardglass nets could react – a fantastic strike by Branagan.
Celtic Boys chased and harried the opposition all over the pitch and were two up after 19 minutes through Sean Megahey.
Megahey made inroads down the right flank and sent over what looked a cross come shot that deceived Crangle and ended up in the Arglass nets.
By now Ardglass were sloppy in possession and struggled to string two passes together and could not match the Celtic Boys intensity throughout the pitch.
On 27 minutes a great piece of interplay involving a long clearance from Curran and a powerful run down the right wing and cut back from Branagan found Casey rushing in.
However, Casey’s first time volley was well saved by Crangle who reacted sharply to keep the score at 0-2 to the visitors.
However on 32 minutes the third goal did came and it was that Megahey again making a surging run down the right wing.
But this time his pin-point cross found Sean Ferris rising unchallenged to head home and making it 3-0 to Celtic Boys at half-time.
Into the second half and for a few minutes it looked as If Ardglass were going to pose a few problems for the visitors, but individual errors would again be the Ardglass downfall.
Michael Magee tried his luck from distance on 47 minutes but saw his shot miss the target and on 52 minutes Magee got on the end of a Rooney free and planted his header wide when it looked certain he would score.
Ardglass got on the scoresheet on 55 minutes through Conor Kearney who saw his shot from just inside the left side of the box take a deflection which deceived Curran, and ended up in the back of the net.
Any hope of a comeback was ended within a minute when Sean Ferris reacted first to a loose ball in the box and slammed the ball home to make it 1-4 to Celtic Boys and from then on it looked like game over
Then matters got worse for Ardglass when the unlucky Malachy Crangle scored an own goal trying to cut out a right wing cross from Ferris.
Then on 86 minutes Sean Ferris completed the scoring as he tapped in from close range following a great left wing run and cross from Conail Kerr with the Ardglass defence in tatters.
Overall this was a bad day at the office for Ardglass. Spare a thought for Crangle and O’Shea at the back, Rooney in midfield and Michael Magee who all fought bravely for the home cause against a Celtic Boys team who looked sharp.
Celtic Bhoys chased and harried everything and had great performances all over the pitch especially from Branagan who battled hard for the full 90 minutes.
Ardglass FC: James Crangle, Ross McEvoy, Paul Savill, Caolain O’Shea, Malachy Crangle, Matthew Rooney, Michael Clarke, Jamie Cusack, Michael Magee, Jamie McDarby, Conor Kearney. Subs: David Armstrong for Michael Clarke , Reuben Ashe for Michael Clarke
Celtic Bhoys: Nathan Curran Shaun Megahey, Blaine Connolly, Caolain Logue, Mikey Rice, Johnnie Bell, Jarleth Branagan, Peter Casey, Jordan McCoubrey, Conaill Kerr, Sean Ferris. Subs: Sean Cahill for Peter Casey, Corey McCartan for Jordan McCoubrey, Christopher McDowell for Blaine Connolly.
