Dee-light for Ardee thanks to cup win
ARDEE CELTIC ROCK CELTIC 2 0
A WONDER strike from man of the match Ken Thornton put the icing on the cake for Ardee Celtic as they overcame Rock to advance to the next round of the Tully Bookmakers Challenge Cup last Friday night.
Thornton’s goal came in the 85th minute when a swift counter-attack saw the talented centre-half suddenly pop up tearing down the right-hand touchline. He cut infield and from 35 yards smashed a glorious effort over a stranded Rock keeper.
It capped a great night for Thornton, who with inspirational skipper Niall Sharkey, Lorcan Myles and Robbie Reynolds formed a faultless back four who rarely allowed Stuart Reynolds to be troubled.
Rock did fire the opening salvo of the night with a shot that rose over Reynolds’ crossbar, but Ardee soon settled down and Bryan O’Connor had an effort that rolled just wide, shortly after the Rock keeper had saved another shot.
O’Connor was out of luck moments later when Ardee felt he should have been awarded a penalty for a clumsy tackle by Rock’s centre-half, but the referee blew for a foul in the visitors’ favour.
Ardee did win two free kicks in promising positions, but the end product wasn’t there, while the Rock keeper saved a Ryan Burns effort from a tight angle after the Louth football ace had turned a defender and dribbled into the box.
Rock finished the first half strongly, though, with two shots flying wide before Reynolds made a brave save from an effort by their full-back and John Bingham cleared the rebound.
Somehow the first half ended goal-less, and the second half began with a weak Thornton header from a Robbie Reynolds free kick, before a Rock player had a free header from a corner kick that led to a goal-line clearance.
Back came Ardee and Reynolds broke from defence, escaping from an attempted challenge before driving forward and unleashing a thunderbolt that whistled just over the crossbar.
Finally, the breakthrough arrived on 59 minutes when O’Connor showed great pace to slip inside the box and hit a waist-high shot that should have been dealt with comfortably by the Rock keeper but somehow found its way through to nestle in the net.
Rock almost replied instantly, with Ardee relieved to see their winger’s shot fire over Reynolds’ crossbar, and Lorcan Myles then had to produce a goal-line clearance to preserve his side’s slender lead.
Finally, Ardee put the tie to bed in the 83rd minute with that brilliant strike from Thornton, who looked up to see the Rock netminder off his line before angling his longrange shot beyond him.
Overall, in a game of few clearcut chances, Ardee were just that bit more efficient in front of goal, but Rock will have an early opportunity for revenge as these two teams are due to meet in a league encounter at Sandy Lane on Friday night.
ARDEE CELTIC: Stuart Reynolds, Lorcan Myles, Ken Thornton, Niall Sharkey, Robbie Reynolds, Shawni Dowdall, John Bingham, Aaron Roche, Gareth Kane, Bryan O’Connor, Ryan Burns. Subs: Hugh Murphy, Ryan Ward, Lorcan Malone, Tristan Knowles.
•Ardee Celtic continued their fine form in the Premier Reserve League with a fine 4-0 win over Bellurgan United in Flynn Park last Saturday.