Killarney Celtic progress to open draw of FAI Junior Cup
FAI JUNIOR CUP FOURTH ROUND
Newmarket Celtic B Killarney Celtic 4
AS the old Ralf McTell song goes “It’s a long, long way way from Clare to here” but it was an enjoyable excursion for Killarney Celtic on Sunday as they visited the Banner county and came home happy campers with a hugely impressive win over Newmarket Celtic. A large contingent of supporters travelled for the game and they were in buoyant form on the homeward journey.
The home side came out in tigerish fashion for the early part of the first half spurred on by a big band of local supporters and gave Celtic plenty to contend with. Worry began to set in when the home side went ahead after 24 minutes. However Celtic’s response was swift and deadly and 2 minutes later after a free flowing penetrating attack Danny Roche equalised with a superb finish.
Celtic began to dominate the game and they took the lead just before half time. Cathal O’Shea done brilliantly to win the ball and make ground towards the Newmarket goals and he squared the ball to Danny Roche and he finished the ball to the net in style to put Celtic in a nice position at the interval.
They upped their perfformance considerably in the second half and established a comfortable cushion of safety in the 51st minute when Peter McCarthy scored their third goal.
It was a day to rememeber for young Michael Devlin who came on as a sub in the 80th minute and seconds later he put Celtic 4-1 ahead with a great strike. It was the rookie’s first appearance for the senior side after scoring as well for the Celtic Youth team on Saturday.
They could have easily added to their tally but they were denied by a number of great saves by the Newmarket goalkeeper. It was a very good team performance with the subs introduced also having a major impact on the game.
Celtic are now through to the last 64 (open draw) in the national competition and will be keeping their fingers crossed for a favourable fixture in the next round.
Last year’s winners Sheriff YC (Dublin), who beat Celtic in the semi-final last year, made a dramatic exit from the competition losing 1-0 on Friday night to another Dublin side Usher United.
Ideally Celtic will be hoping for a home draw as they are extremely hard to beat at Celtic Park irrespective of who the opposition is.
KILLARNEY Celtic: Brian Kelly, Chris O’Leary, Jamie Spillane, John McDonagh, Brendan Falvey, Gary Keane, Matt Keane, Cathal O’Shea, Peter McCarthy, Wayne Sparling, Danny Roche. Subs: Conor McCarthy, Stephen McCarthy, Pa McGrath, Michael Devlin, Anthony O’Leary, Lee Downing, Roy Kelliher.