Castleisland prevail in FAI Cup derby clash

IT was a weekend of mixed fortunes for Kerry teams in the FAI Junior Cup with CG Killarney, Classic FC and Castlegregory making their exit from the competition while Fenit and Castleisland progressed to the fourth round of the national competition after great wins against strong opposition.

The game between Killarney Celtic and Clare side Moher Celtic scheduled for Celtic Park on Saturday evening was postponed owing to a bereavement involving the Clare side.

The all Kerry clash between Castleisland and Killarney Athletic took pride of place on Sunday and in a very competitive game it was the home side that emerged victorious after a dour battle played with a great competitive edge.

Two early first half goals in the 2nd and 10th minutes decided the game and after this Athletic were playing catch up and despite showing plenty of creativity they were unable to unhinge a rock solid Castleisland defence.

Athletic will be cursing their luck as they squandered a lot of good scoring chances including a missed penalty.

They were well on top in the second half but just could not break down a resilient home defence where Mike McCarthy and Mike Cahill were outstanding.

The teams had difficult underfoot conditions to contend with but they served up a good lively game that was delicately balanced for a long time.

Both sides were without a number of regular players but those on duty got on with the task in hand played with honest endeavour.

Castleisland adopted their usual route one game, defending deep applying pressure from any kind of set piece situation while Athletic tried to execute their passing game but it was extremely difficult on a heavy pitch.

The game got off to an explosive start with Castleisland scoring after just two minutes.

After forcing a corner the ball broke out to midfield where debutant Padraig McCarthy done the hard grafting to win the ball from an opponent and he split the Athletic defence with a great through ball in to Tommy Feehan who eluded a defender and finished to the net from 12 yards.

Play then moved down the other end with Athletic forcing a corner kick.

It was floated right into the goalmouth by Sean Cournane and met at the near post by Ryan Carroll but his header went over the top.

The Athletic defence were caught ball watching in the 10th minute when they could not deal with a Ryan Carroll free kick from out on the wing and when the ball broke loose Ray Huggard played in Jonathan Downey and he rifled the ball past Athletic goalie Brian O’Connor to put his side in a very strong position.

Athletic then put a great passage of football together with Sean Cournane linking up with Jamie Doolan to free Shane Lynch and his shot went narrowly wide.

Athletic had a big shout for a penalty kick in the 27th minute when Castleisand goalie Stephen Bartlett seemed to take down Shane Lynch but the tackle was deemed fair.

Athletic got a firm grip on the game in the second half and began to ask serious questions of the Castleisland defence.

Ryan Caroll had two half chances but he was unable to test the Castleisland goalkeeper.

Then they forced three successive corner kicks but Castleisland defended superbly on each occasion and cleared their lines.

However they got the chance they had been waiting for in the 65th minute when a lunging tackle by Ray Huggard brought down Shane Lynch in the box and referee Adrian Quirke had no hesitation at pointing to the spot.

Sean Cournane fired his shot for the left hand corner but Stephen Bartlett dived to his right and made a magnificent save.

By now Athletc were running out of ideas and frustration was beginning to creep into their game.

Castleisland manager Dan Maunsell then brought on three subs as they battened down the hatches to protect their two-goal advantage.

Athletic piled on the pressure but it was all in vain as the home defence dealt with everything that came their way and Castleisland ran out deserving winners at the end.

CASTLEISLAND: Stephen Bartlett, Paul Carmody, Mike McCarthy, Mike Cahill, Daniel Downey, Ray Huggard (Colin McCarthy, 67 mins), Tommy Feehan (Danny Feehan, 67 mins), Padraig McCarthy (Matthew Browne, 88 mins), Pierse Brosnan (Micheal Walsh, 47 mins), Jonathan Downey, (Stephen McCarthy, 67 mins), Aidan O’Callaghan.

KILLARNEY ATHLETIC: Brian O’Connor, Conor Farrell (Darren Mulcahy, 86 mins), Adam Moynihan (Paudie O’Connor, 75 mins), Eanna Kavanagh, Eamon Lavin (Mike O’Donoghue, 49mins), Cillian O’Regan, Ayden Mulvaney, Jamie Doolan, Ryan Carroll, Shane Lynch, Sean Cournane.

REFEREE: Adrian Quirke