Charleville advance at Clyda’s expense
side looked very threatening all through and in the ninth minute Darren Casey soloed through only to have his attempt at goal saved by the Clyda Rovers keeper Gearoid O’Shea with the rebound falling kindly into the path of James Kennedy who finished to the net from close range.
Clyda Rovers response was immediate with Michael Linehan kicking over a point. For the remainder of the half scores were at a premium with both teams finding it hard to adjust to the appalling weather conditions. Mark Kavanagh had the last score of this half when he pointed a free for the winners who held a 1-2 to 0-2 lead at the shortwhistle. The Rovers were dealt a blow late in the half when they had a player dismissed for a second bookable offence.
On the changeover the Rathluirc outfit aided by the wind started in a very determined manner with Danny O’Flynn (2) Shane Corkery (2) and James Kennedy with points moving them into a 1-7 to 0-2 lead by the 46th minute. Cian Conway kept Clyda Rovers in touch with a point before Charleville moved a step closer to the knockout stages when substitute Andrew Cagney had their second goal in the 52nd minute.
Clyda Rovers battled on and in the last eight minutes enjoyed their best spell with Chris Buckley, Conor Crowley, Michael Forde, Chris O’Connell and Gavin Carey most effective.
In the 54th minute Michael Forde got their revival in motion with a point before Chris Buckley with a goal and a point in the space of a minute narrowed the deficit to 2-7 to 1-5 with less than five minutes remaining.
The Mourneabbey side tried very hard in the closing moments to reduce the deficit further but it was not to be with Jack Barry completing the scoring for Charleville in injury time who ran out deserving winners.