Uncharacteristic collapse by Celtic in FAI Junior Cup

FAI JUNIOR CUP FIFTH ROUND (LAST 64)

I have been following the beautiful game all my life and over the years I never saw a Killarney Celtic side crumble on the big stage but they did astonishingly on Saturday evening at Celtic Park when they were blown away by superb Limerick side Regional United who bossed the game from start to finish. There was an eerie silence at packed Celtic Park in the second half as the visitors romped home in scintillating style.

The visitors were in charge of this game from the very outset, were quicker off the mark, domineering in the air and displayed great passion and fire outplaying their opponents for most of the game.

Play was scrappy for the opening twenty minutes but Celtic went ahead against the run of play in the 27th minute when Stevie O’Mahony got on to the end of a Brendan Falvey free kick and when he was bundled over in the box referee Derek O’Shea had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Danny Roche drilled the spot kick low to the bottom corner of the net and everything was looking rosey for the home side.

However their lead lasted less than two minutes with Regional hitting on the counter attack which left the Celtic defence at sea and a shot from inside the box by Kieran O’Connell took a deflection off a Celtic defender and gave Michael Gustifar no chance in the Celtic goals.

They should have doubled their lead 2 minutes later when Sosuke Kimura set up Patrick McDonagh but he scuffed his shot from 10 yards.

Two minutes later they forced a corner kick which was driven into the goalmouth by Kieran O’Connell and Jack Lynch rose highest to head the ball to the net.

Celtic had a claim for a penalty kick when Wayne Sparling fell under a challenge but a corner is all that transpired and they made no use of it.

Celtic forced a couple of corner kicks before half time but the visitors defence handled them easily.

Going in at half time Celtic must have been happy enough to be just a goal behind as on the run of play they could have been three or four behind but they knew they had a mountain to climb to get back into this game.

Any chance of a comeback went out the window three minutes into the second half when the superb Sosuke Kimura got past two defenders and slipped the ball to Alan Murphy and he smashed it to the back of the net.

Celtic brought on Stephen McCarthy and Sean Maloney for James Sugrue and Matt Keane but the trend of play was still only going in one direction.

Regional put the game to bed in the 70th minute when sub Evan Cusack ran on to an over the top ball and played in Sean McSweeney and he applied a great finish from close range.

It was damage limitation for Celtic after this but the visitors were not finished yet and man of the match Sosuke Kimura bundled in a Jack Lynch corner kick and Patrick McDonagh added further salt to Celtic’s wounds with an 80th minute goal.

It is a game Celtic need to forget about quickly because they never turned up for it and the tame manner in which they lost was very uncharacteristic.

On the positive front they have a couple of weeks to reflect ahead of their Champions League Trophy semi-final against Newmarket Celtic.

They face Castleisland next Sunday with a place at stake in the last 32 of the Munster Junior Cup. The winner is away to Limerick side Ballynanty in the fourth round.

KILLARNEY CELTIC: Michael Gustifar, Padraig O’Connor, Brendan Falvey, Stevie O’Mahony, John McDonagh, Matt Keane (Sean Maloney, 63), Gary Keane, Wayne Sparling, James Sugrue (Stephen McCarthy, 63), Cathal O’Shea, Danny Roche.

REGIONAL UNITED; Robert Shier, Dylan Frawley (Martin Madden 84), Alan Murphy, Jack Lynch (Ian Hughes, 87), Clyde O’Connell, Ross Fitzgerald, Sean McSweeney, Kieran O’Connell (Declan Cusack, 87), Willie Griffin (Evan Cusack, 58) Sosuke Kimura, Patrick McDonagh.

REFEREE: Derek O’Shea