All square in north Kerry derby

DENNY PREMIER A

Listowel Celtic 2 Castleisland 2

LISTOWEL Celtic were within minutes of registering a win at Pat Kennedy Park on Sunday when they held a 2-1 lead over Castleisland going into the concluding minutes of the game, but like they have done so often in the past Castleisland came back from the dead scoring the equaliser in the 91th minute to claim a league point.

The home side will be kicking themselves for not winning the game as they were the better side over the 90 minutes but they allowed their opponents get out of jail at the end.

The game got off to a lively start with Castleisland scoring after six minutes. It came from an excellently executed free kick by Tommy Feehan, which found Aidan O’Callaghan and he headed it down to Adam O’Donoghue who applied a clinical finish from close range.

Celtic should have equalised in the 14th minute when Jo Jo Grimes played in Ashley Kelliher, but Castleisland keeper Stephen Bartlett made a great block to deny the Celtic striker.

However, he was not to be denied two minutes later when he ran on to a long delivery out of defence by Jo Jo Grimes and he eased past a couple of defenders and slid the ball under the body of the Castleisland keeper.

Castleisland went close to regaining the lead in the 32nd minute when again Aidan O’Callaghan latched on to a Tommy Feehan free kick creating a chance for Mike Hanifan, but his shot clipped the wrong side of the post.

Another Castleisland free kick produced another chance for Aidan O’Callaghan but he shot wide when he should at least have hit the target. Celtic then produced a couple of half chances with Jack Sheehan shooting over the top from distance, while Tommy Keane headed wide from an Ashley Kelliher corner kick.

Just before the break Celtic put another dangerous attack together, but at the end of it Jack Sheehan put his shot wide.

While the first half was evenly contested Listowel Celtic were the better side in the second half using their speed and passing game to great effect and were putting the Castleisland rearguard under a lot of pressure being particularly dangerous on the break and from counter attacks.

The home side took the lead in the 57th minute with a splendid individual goal. Brendan Angland used his tenacity to win the ball at midfield and he used great speed and skill to get past a number of players and he showed great composure to draw out the Castleisland keeper and role it past him with deadly accuracy.

They should have extended their lead three minutes later after another penetrating attack spearheaded by the same player who offloaded to Ashley Kelliher who came in at an angle and his shot came off the butt of the post to Jason Wallace who had just come on as a sub but he fluffed his shot from six yards and a great chance was gone.

Now the Castleisland management began to use their bench, but Celtic were still enjoying much more possession and looking the more likely to get another goal. Entering the concluding stages Castleisland went for broke with a three-man defence.

Celtic forced a corner kick in the 87th minute which was despatched into the goalmouth by Jack Sheehan and as the ball broke loose Jo Jo Grimes went down and was penalised for simulation and as he had been previously booked he got a red card.

As the game entered added time Castleisland forced a corner kick. It was floated into the goalmouth by Tommy Feehan where it was blocked out to the edge of the box where Colin McCarthy met it on the half volley and while Celtic keeper Shane O’Sullivan got a hand to the ball he could not keep it out.

Castleisland looked the more dangerous in the five minutes of added time but they must have been happy enough to come away with a point from this game.

It was nice to see Castleisland’s Patrick Hickey coming on in the second half after being out of the game for a long time with an injury.

He will be a huge asset in their bid to try and make the league final. Listowel are a very young side that play an attractive brand of football and if manager Paddy Lynch can keep them together for a couple of years they will be a force to be reckoned with.

LISTOWEL CELTIC: Shane O’Sullivan, Neilius Mackessy Ben Tobin, Thomas Doherty, Tommy Keane, Jack Sheehan, Paul O’Connor (Jason Wallace, 59), Jo Jo Grimes, Ashley Kelliher, Brendan Angland (Darren Loughnane 87), Michael Kennedy (Kevin McCarthy, 70)

CASTLEISLAND: Stephen Bartlett, Colin McCarthy, Paul Carmody, Michael Walsh (Cathal O’Donoghue, 81), Aidan O’Callaghan, Ray Huggard (Mike McCarthy, 67), Mike Hanifan (Patrick Hickey, 75), Pierce Brosnan (Kevin O’Mahoney, 69), Tommy Feehan, Luke Lyons, Adam O’Donoghue

REFEREE: Anthony Morrison