Crucial victory boosts Ardee

ARDEE CELTIC DULEEK 3 0

ARDEE Celtic took a big step towards retaining their Premier Division status with this comprehensive win over Duleek at Townparks last Friday night.

All three goals were scored inside the opening 23 minutes as the Deesiders picked up their third straight win to draw level with their opponents in the table, with three games still in hand.

Conor Lynch’s men had beaten Kingscourt Harps and Bellurgan United recently and they continued their upward trajectory thanks to goals from the Gaynor brothers and Mikey Nulty.

Darryn Gaynor broke the deadlock on seven minutes, latching onto a loose pass in the Duleek defence to round the keeper and finish from an acute angle, before brother Ross showed quick feet to control Lorcan Myles’ pass and fire high to the net on 14 minutes.

Scoring opportunities for Duleek, who had overcome OMP United the previous week, were limited as two efforts flew wide and Barry Kavanagh had a dangerous crossed comfortably held by Stuart Reynolds after skipping past Ardee defender Ciaran Clarke.

In the meantime Ardee’s pressure was relentless and Nulty shot home their third goal after Ross Gaynor had beaten the young Duleek full-back down the right and squared across the six-yard box for a tap-in.

Ardee took that commanding three-goal lead into the interval, and although Duleek were much improved in the second half there was no end product. Their full-back raced down the left, but his cross beat everybody, while Kavanagh blasted over the bar.

Myles hit the woodwork for Ardee in the second half before he added the Deesiders’ fourth goal with a first-time effort after Ross Gaynor’s cross was cleared to round off a highly impressive performance.

It would have been more had Robbie Reynolds not had a spot kick saved by the busy Duleek netminder.

The games don’t get any easier for the Meath club as they must travel to face Newfoundwell in their next outing this Friday night.

ARDEE CELTIC: Stuart Reynolds; Robbie Reynolds, Niall Sharkey, Óisín McGee, Ciarán Clarke; Lorcan Myles, Mikey Nulty, Conor McManus, Gareth Kane; Ross Gaynor; Darryn Gaynor. Subs: Stuart Osborne, Paul Matondo, Eddie Burke.

DULEEK: Mark Kelly, Chris McDonnell, Caelan Duff, Gary Nugent, Bryan Murphy, Gareth Toal (Jamie Flaherty), James Burke (Karl Dyas), James Guilfoyle, Sean Kennedy (Mick Conroy), Alan Wilton, Barry Kavanagh.