Derby stalemate in ‘A’ final
DENNY PREMIER A FINAL
deep and doing their best to hit on the counter attack and created more chances than their opponents.
Their defence was superbly marshalled by Enna Kavanagh who turned in an outstanding performance at centre half.
The first chance of a serious nature came in the 16th minute for Celtic after a corner kick Matt Keane set of Gary Keane and his low shot was just a whisker outside the post.
Athletic had to wait untill the 24th minute for their first strike on target and it came from a Shane Doolan free kick which was hit powerfully from 30 yards and Roy Kelliher got his body behind it and made a comfortable save.
There was a major hold up after half an hour after an accidental clash Celtic’s Pa McGrath and Athletic’s Enna Kavanagh sustained head injuries.
Thankfully both resumed play again after a five-minute break and quickly Gary Keane created an opening for Cathal O’Shea but he just could not get the final touch to steer the ball to the net.
Late in the first half Athletic created two good chances but Sean Cournane’s shot for the bottom corner was superbly saved by Roy Kelliher while after a great move Daithi Casey cut in and tried to chip the Celtic goalie and is his effort was only inches over the crossbar.
Right on the stroke of half time Celtic went close and with Peter McCarthy crossing the ball to Wayne Sparling and his effort was taken off the line.
The pattern of play remained similar in the second half and there was another long hold up after Athletics William Courtney was injured in another accidental clash.
He attended to by Stefan McMahon and Suzanne Scully who have
experience in this field and suffering from suspected concussion an ambulance was summoned and he was taken to A&E.
The injured player was replaced by Paudie Clifford.
At this stage both sides began to use their bench andthe tempo of the game went up dramatically as both sides began to create chances.
A major incident came in the 82nd minute when Sean Cournane split open the Celtic defence in a lightening breakaway attack with a sublime over the top ball for Daithi Casey.
He was impeded by Jamie Spillane and as he was the last player in a goal scoring position Spillane got a straight red card a decision Celtic were not happy with.
Now the odds were stacked in favour of Athletic but the sending off did not affect Celtic’s play as they were the side that carried the biggest threat in the final third of the pitch.
Athletic had a great chance to score in the 83rd minute when Paudie Clifford had a free header from 10 yards but he could not test the Celtic keeper.
In a lengthly period of added time both sides tried to engineer a goal. In the 95th minute Celtic got a free kick just outside the box which was hit with great force by John McDonagh and the Athletic keeper Brian O’Connor done very well to push it over the top.
Celtic piled on the pressure in the concluding stages of added time and created a few half chances which were not availed of with Wayne Sparling coming closest seeing his header clip the post.
Athletic also had a great chance 11 minutes into added time but sub Paudie Clifford was unable to put it away.
A draw was probably a fair outcome at the end as both sides deserve a second chance and hopefully the replay will be a better game than this one.
Jamie Spillane will be a huge loss to Celtic in the replay and will enhance Athletic’s chances of winning.
The replay takes place at Mounthawk Park this Friday at 7.30pm. KILLARNEY CELTIC: Roy Kelliher, Chris O’Leary, Brendan Falvey, John McDonagh, Jamie Spillane, Matt Keane (Matthew Moynihan, 83 mins), Gary Keane, Pa McGrath, Peter McCarthy (Stephen Hayes, 95 mins) Cathal O’Shea (Steven McCarthy, 100 mins), Wayne Sparling.
KILLARNEY ATHLETIC: Brian O’Connor, Brian O’Reilly, Adam Moynihan (Conor Farrell, 102 mins), Paudie O’Connor, Enna Kavanagh, Shane Doolan, Mike O’Donoghue,Shane Lynch (Paul O’Donoghue, 80 mins), Daithi Casey (Lucas Polak, 95 mins) Sean Cournane, William Courtney (Paudie Clifford, 61 mins)
REFEREE: Kevin O’Regan