Deadly Castlewellan sink Killough hopes

21 March 2012

A CHILLINGLY, ruthless and efficient display enabled Castlewellan to retain the Bobby Dalzell Cup at Cheney Park, Banbridge.

Unfortunately, the experiment to take the showpiece final to Cheney Park’s 3G pitch was an abject failure as the game lacked quality, and atmosphere.

The anonymity of the entire proceedings left those spectators who did turn up, wondering what might have been had the final been played at Drumaness or even Bear Park on St. Patrick’s Day morning.

Castlewellan were out of their blocks on the ‘b’ of bang and when Liam McKibben whipped in a corner with pace, Nial Toner was on hand to steer the ball past a stranded Chris Mallon with only 45 seconds on the clock.

There was no need for Killough to panic just yet and they didn’t with Tony McIlhone patiently trying to find a way through a stoic Castlewellan back four, who just wouldn’t yield.

The Town had no such problems in attack and their confidence on the artificial playing surface gave them a distinct advantage. Dean Anderson was behind most Castlewellan’s attacking forays and with 15 minutes gone he linked up with man of the match Sean Russell to carve out an opening for Aidy Burns.

Unfortunately, Burns was unable to beat Mallon who made a super save to keep his side in contention. Mallon, who must have run Russell close for the man of the match accolade, was back in action seven minutes later when he again saved smartly to dent Toner.

Killough finally got a look in after 27 minutes, but Freddie O’Connor was forced to shoot from distance. His long range strike was defected for a corner, but McIlhone was unable to get proper contact with his head to Matthew’s Sharvin cross.

With 32 minutes gone another sweeping Castlewellan move ended with Liam McKibben setting up Anderson, but was denied a certain goal by a miraculous save from Mallon.

Less than 60 seconds later Mallon sprouted wings yet again to keep out a rasping volley from Russell after he got on the end of long free kick from the impressive Ruairi McArdle.

Castlewellan could feel a goal coming and with 35 minutes gone Liam McKibben danced his way past two defenders out on the left before crossing into the danger zone. Burns could feel the ball bulging in the back of the net and was planning his goal celebrations when Eoin McCavera appeared from nowhere to clear the ball out of the box.

Killough were then dealt a bad blow when they lost the services of midfielder Daryl Kelly and with 41 minutes gone he was replaced by Nicky O’Connor.

Castlewellan took full advantage of the Killough replacement settling in and with 43 minutes gone they struck gold. Burns did the spade work up front by drawing a couple of defenders in.

He then released Anderson in space, but instead of playing Burns back in, the big midfielder played the ball out wide right to Russell and he hit one as sweet as a nut as the ball flew to the back of the net.

Barry Travers went close at the end of the half to making it 3-0, but Mallon, who was on a mission impossible, again produced an extraordinary save.

The second half was a bit flat compared to the first 45 minutes, but it also started in explosive fashion, without the goal.

A McArdle free kick was met by Russell, but Mallon saved. The rebound came out to Anderson, but Mallon parried his effort back into the path of Liam McKibben, who blasted the ball over from a great position.

Castlewellan were in cruise control for most of the second half and simply allowed Killough to come at them and then hit them on the break. Alas, Killough failed to hurt Castlewellan at the back as Conor Stratton, a rock of a centre half, McArdle, Aidy Kelly and Travers proved unbeatable and Michael Watson had only the one save to make over the 90 minutes.

Killough never stopped trying, but they eventually got fed up running into a brick wall and went through the motions for the latter part of the game as Castlewellan claimed the first part of the fabled treble.

Castlewellan: M. Watson, B. Travers, A. Kelly, R. McArdle, C. Stratton, S. Russell, D. Anderson, N. Toner, D. McKibben, A. Burns, L. McKibben. Subs: S. Trainor, C. Corrigan, D. Morgan.

Killough: C. Mallon, K. Sharvin, E. McCavera, M. McKiernan, C. Stranney, F. O’Connor, D. Kelly, T. McIlhone, C. Doyle, A. Denvir, M. Sharvin. Subs: S. Black, N. O’Connor, G. George.

Castlewellan 2

Killough 0

BOBBY DALZELL CUP FINAL

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