Castleisland move six clear in Premier A

Castleisland 3 Listowel Celtic 2

IN a humdinger of a game at Georgie O’Callaghan Park on Sunday morning Castleisland notched up another win after overcoming Listowel Celtic in a very competitive game that hung on a thread right up to the final whistle.

Listowel were fast out of the blocks and took the lead in the fifth minute from a great move and a great finish from Ashley Kelliher.

This ignited the home side and after a change of formation they began to create scoring chances.

They equalised in the 15th minute when a foul on Stephen McCarthy resulted in a penalty kick which was clinically converted by Tommy Feehan.

Five minutes later they went ahead when Adam O’Donoghue took advantage of a poor clearance by a Listowel defender and kept his composure finishing to the net past the out-coming goalkeeper.

The home side had a couple of chances to extend their lead but they were denied by a brace of great saves by the Listowel goalie Shane O’Sullivan.

Castleisland dominated possession early in the second half but were unable to set up scoring chances and when Listowel hit on the break it took a good safe by Stephen Bartlett to deny the visitors an equaliser.

After this Listowel began to dominate the game and after a period of sustained pressure the equaliser came when the ball ended up in the net off a Castleisland defender to set the cat among the pigeons.

The home side responded positively after this set back and went out in search of a winner.

It did arrive in the 75th minute from a corner kick that was excellently taken by Colin McCarthy finding Adam O’Donoghue at the back post and his crisp header gave the Listowel goalkeeper no chance.

Now Listowel went for broke but they were unable to unhinge a strong Castleisland defence.

Padraic O’Connor had a great chance to put the game to bed for Castleisland but he was denied by a great save by Listowel goalkeeper.

The home side had to overcome some anxious moments late in the game but they defended superbly and were deserving winners at the end.

This was another great three points for Castleisland who are now six points ahead at the top of the table and are undefeated in seven games.

CASTLEISLAND FC: Stephen Bartlett, Colin McCarthy, Adam Donoghue, Michael Walsh, Aiden O’Callaghan, Paul Carmody, Eamon Nolan, Mike Hanafin, Cathal O’Donoghue, Danny Feehan, Stephen McCarthy

LISTOWEL CELTIC: Shane O’Sullivan, Michael Kennedy, Ben Tobin, Kevin McCarthy, Cathal Keane, Darragh Loughnane, Brendan Angland, Tommy Keane, Joe Joe Grimes, Paudie Quinn, Ashley Kelliher.

DENNY PREMIER B Ballyhar Dynamos 1 Castleisland ‘B’ 2

CASTLEISLAND B’s winning sequence continued at Murt Scott Park on Sunday when they got their noses to the front at the end against Ballyhar Dynamos in a very tight game. Castleisland led 1-0 at the break and Ballyhar missed a great chance to level the game 5 minutes into the second half but they failed to convert a penalty kick. However, they did equalise in the 65th minute with a fine finish from Mike Daly.

Castleisland got the winning goal late in the game from a corner kick

Veterans Pa O’Rourke and Tim O’Donoghue scored for the winners.

QPR 1 Rattoo Rovers 4

RATTOO Rovers narrowed the gap at the top of the table to just 4 points with a comfortable win over QPR. Paul Carroll, Michael Hussey, Darren O’Connor and Kevin Goulding scored for the Ballyduff side. Jack Reen scored for QPR.