Ardglass suffer defeat against Celtic Bhoys
The Newcastle and District Amateur Football League.
Premier League.
Ballyhornan, Saturday 26th March 2022.
Celtic Bhoys 4 2 Ardglass FC.
Celtic Bhoys and Ardglass FC battled for the vital points on the top tier of the Premier League clash played at Ballyhornan in bright sunshine and perfect conditions for soccer writes Cyril McKinney.
Straight from the first whistle both teams were on the front foot and both keepers were called into action in the opening minutes as both teams sought an early opener for advantage.
Celtic Bhoys took the lead on 4 minutes when Ardglass defender Ian Kearney slipped as he attempted to clear his lines leaving an alert Jordan McCoubrey to rifle the ball past a helpless Armstrong in the Ardglass nets.
Ardglass rallied and had attempts from a Kearney free a few minutes later and a Neil Taggart free kick on 14 minutes which hit a post.
Celtic boys fought back and after a surging run down the right wing by Jay Gibney, he crossed to the back post where Sean Ferris sent a firm header past Mark Armstrong to double the Celtic Boys lead on 19 minutes.
Ardglass got back in the game ten minutes later when Shane Taggart was brought down by Gary Carberry about 25 yards in front of goal. Taggart took the free kick himself and curled it round the wall and despite the best efforts of Celtic Boys keeper Nathan Curran, the ball ended up in the net.
As the match see-sawed to and fro, Celtic Boys were awarded a penalty when the Ardglass keeper was adjudged to have brought down Gibney inside the box. Shaun Megahey coverted from the spot to make it 3-1 to the home side.
As half-time approached a long through ball from Ardglass defender Kearney found Taggart in on goal only for Nathan Curran in the Celtic Boys nets to bring him down in the box. The referee pointed to the spot. Up stepped Kearney to cooly slot home to leave the score 3-2 at half-time.
The second half did not live up to the excitement of the first half and despite a lot of hustle and bustle Ardglass could not engineer any clear cut chances with the Celtic Bhoys defence working hard to close down any threat from the danger man Neil Taggart and restricting any quality service to him.
At the other end, Celtic Boys had a few half chances but were either wide or the ball went straight into the hands of the keeper.
Ardglass’ misery was complete when veteran defender Ian Kearney was red carded for a second bookable offence and on 67 minutes Sean Ferris got his second goal of the day with a solid back post header to leave the score at 4-2 to the home side putting them firmly in the driving seat for the league title.
Both sides had players missing for this clash but Celtic Boys deserved this win on a great day for football even if the second half did not match the endeavours of a very competitive first half.
Celtic Boys: Nathan Curran, Shaun Megahey, Blain Connolly, Michael Rice, Gary Carberry, Conor Doherty, Sean Ferris, Peter Casey, Jay Gibney, Jordan McCoubrey, Sean McMahon. Subs: Corey McCartan for Peter Casey, Conaill Kerr for Sean McMahon, Paul Brady for Sean Ferris,
Ardglass FC: Mark Armstrong, Brian Crangle, Malachy Crangle, Ian Kearney, Caolain O’Shea, Matthew Rooney, Shane Teggart, Sean Paul Halpin, Neil Taggart, Ciaran Dorrian, Conor Kearney. Subs: Shea Dorrian, Jordan Finnegan, Christopher Teggart
