Bhoys into Harry Clarke final

Bhoys into Harry Clarke final

20 April 2016

CELTIC Bhoys claimed their place in the Toals Harry Clarke Cup final after a tense penalty shoot-out win at a weird winter wonderland in Newcastle on Saturday.

Snow and hail showers tried to disrupt proceedings throughout the encounter between two Division 1 sides.

Castlewellan really put it up to a subdued Celtic outfit, but the result always matters more than the performance in cup semi-finals.

Celtic started well enough and began to probe for openings down both flanks. With eight minutes gone Shane Baggley picked out Chris Mullan’s run down the right, but he shot wide.

A minute later Chris Laverty bombed down the left flank and crossed for Caolan Boyd, but his header was well saved by Michael Watson.

Castlewellan continued to defend well with Shane McCann and young Eoin Moag outstanding, but it was Celtic who carried the greater attacking threat at this stage and with 20 minutes gone Kerri Grant shot wide after a patient approach.

Castlewellan may not have been able to create any openings up front, but they were still seeing plenty of the ball as Peter Kelly, Mikey Rice, Chris Laverty and Joe Murphy held firm at the back for Celtic.

With 30 minutes gone Mullan, who was watched like a hawk by man of the match Donal McKibben, skipped past his marker and cut inside, but his strike was again saved by an alert Watson. 

Moag, one of many promising youngsters coming through the ranks with Castlewellan in the Downpatrick Youth League, was unlucky with a header following a corner kick and just before the break Boyd shot wide of the target as the first half ended scoreless.

Castlewellan started the second half like demons and swarmed all over the Hoops as they made their bid to take the lead. The gambit was a huge success and with 51 minutes gone they struck gold.

McCann, who led Castlewellan from the back with distinction and was a leading contender for the man of the match award, drifted a perfectly weighted cross from the right into the box for Jason Croskery to volley home with aplomb.

Nathan Curran then saved Celtic’s bacon when he produced an instinctive save to deny Aidan Dornan a certain goal when the young winger tried to chip the ball over the stranded Celtic custodian.

Celtic were holding on at this stage, but they quickly found their composure and came storming back. Grant had a shot saved by Watson as Celtic started to turn up the heat, but Castlewellan were not for melting.

All that changed in the 69th minute when Boyd had a header flapped away by Watson, but only as far as the big striker and he pounced to steer in the equaliser.

The game was there for the taking, but neither side had a winner in the tank and extra-time took centre stage. Two periods of 10 minutes produced little of note as penalties became the order of the day.

Sean Russell had his effort saved by Nathan Curran as Celtic took an early advantage and unerring accuracy from Grant, Boyd, Mullan and Jordan Curran was good enough to send the Hoops through to the final against either Ballyvea or Tollymore United on May 8.

Celtic Bhoys: N Curran, J Murphy, C Laverty, P Kelly, M Rice, J Curran, K Grant, J McAllister, C Mullan, C Boyd, S Baggley. Subs: S Megahey, C Perry, J Kelly, C Ranaghan, V Perry.

Castlewellan II: M Watson, E Moag, D McKibben, S McCann, R McMullan, M Toner, C Magorrian, J Croskery, S Russell, G McKibben, A Dornan. Subs: G Keown, J O’Neill,  M Gilmore.

Celtic Bhoys 5

Castlewellan 3

(1-1 after extra-time)

HARRY CLARKE CUP SEMI-FINAL