Newcastle and District Amateur Football League
Premier League
Match Report by Cyril McKinney.
Celtic Boys 3 1 Ardglass
For long periods of this encounter Celtic Boys dominated but try as they might could not find a way past a stubborn Ardglass rear-guard who fought and chased hard for the entire 90 minutes.
Ardglass took a surprise lead on 3 minutes with a worldly strike from outside the box from Jamie Cusack which hit the top corner with Celtic keeper Nathan Curran doing well even getting his fingertips to it.
That amounted to their only real attack on goal in the first half as from then on Celtic dominated the midfield possession, but time and time again the final ball let them down or the dogged determination of Ardglass getting a tackle in. On 17 minutes Sean McMahon volleyed wide from a mistake by Ardglass defender Crangle who failed to clear his lines.
Then Andy Baggley shot over from close range while Conaill Kerr was wide from 6 yards out on 26 minutes. As frustrations grew Celtic Boys number 8 Andy Baggley was booked for a rash foul before McMahon sprung the offside trap on 31 minutes and raced clear one on one with Ardglass keeper only to see his chip over the keeper go the wrong side of the post.
Ardglass were under constant pressure and number 9 O’Neill was booked on 40 minutes before Celtic Boys pressure eventually paid off when Andy Begley found the net from close range following a left wing cross which Ardglass did not clear.
It was more of the same in the second half with Conaill Kerr hitting the bar with a quality strike from close range on 53 minutes before Ricky Kerr fired to the net again from close range on 65 minutes taking advantage of hesitancy in the Ardglass backline.
Celtic Boys made changes and sent on Conor Docherty for Baggley, Caolin Boyd for Conaill Kerr and Eoin Boyle for Chris Mullan to freshen up the attack. McMahon fired over on 76 minutes for Celtic before Ardglass got forward on a rare attack with Cusack firing over from long range on 80 minutes. As Ardglass tired in testing conditions Curran was upended in the box on 82 minutes. Eion Boyle confidently converted the penalty and sent Ardglass keeper Darren Clarke the wrong way to create distance in the scoreline at 3-1 to Celtic Boys.
Both teams are to be commended for their performance in what was testing conditions but with better finishing Celtic Boys could have and should have been further ahead by the finish.
Celtic Boys: Nathan Curran, Sean McCahey, Ciaran Dorrian, Matthew Carson,Michael Rice, Jordan Curran, Connaill Kerr, Andrew Baggley, Sean McMahon, Ricky Kerr, Chris Mullan
Subs: Conor Docherty for Andrew Baggley, Caolin Boyd for Conaill Kerr, Eoin Boyle for Chris Mullan.
Ardglass FC: Darren Clarke, Matthew Shearer,Martin Halpin, Daniel Fleming, Malachy Crangle, John Feenan, Sean Paul Halpin, Jamie Cusack, Karl O’Neill, Jordan Finnegan, James Mahoney
Subs: Adam Mulhall, Matthew O’Shea for John Feenan, Ryan McEvoy for Martin Halpin.
