Five in a row for Castlewellan

Five in a row for Castlewellan

31 December 2014

THERE was high fives all round for Castlewellan at a soaking wet Meadowvale on Boxing Day when they beat Mourne Rovers 5-0 to win the Bobby Dalzell Cup for the fifth year in a row.

And just to keep the theme going, Town centre half John Clarke — wearing number 5 — won the ClubSport NI man of the match award for a commanding display at the heart of the Castlewellan defence.

However, it was no five star show early on for Castlewellan. Mourne Rovers hit the ground running, just as Town supremo John Burns had expected.

“We knew Rovers would go for it early on, but we never thought we would lose Conor Stratton to a hamstring injury after only three minutes,” he said.

“We had a few anxious moments as we tried to rearrange things at the back, but we quickly settled down and got our shape.

“It wasn’t until the third goal went in just before the break that I knew it was in the bag, but Rovers never made it easy for us and they battled to the end.

“We have a few big games coming up in the Junior Shield and Junior Cup in the next few weeks so it was important we didn’t pick up too many injuries as the game wore on.”

Mourne Rovers certainly gave Castlewellan a fright or two in the opening exchanges with Connaire Harrison not too far away with a shot from just outside the box after Neil Doran had prompted the opening.

Two minutes later at the other end Stevie Trainor got his head to a Donal McKibben corner, but he couldn’t get enough purchase on his effort and the ball sailed well wide.

The Town were them dealt a bad blow when they lost skipper Conor Stratton when he pulled up with a hamstring injury, but the were able to bring on Liam McKibben as a replacement.

With nine minutes gone a strangely nervous Rory Burns fumbled a cross from Neil Doran as he slid out to collect the ball, but there was nobody there to take advantage.

Harrison then broke through the Town cover, but opted to pass to Sean McManus instead of going it alone and the chance was gone. Rovers lost the services of the tricky Ryan O’Hare with a leg injury and he was replaced up front by Jamie Carroll.

Castlewellan started to settle and Daniel Morgan carved out a super opening for Trainor, but he had his shot brilliantly saved by Brendan McVeigh.

The Town broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute when Morgan produced an improvised finish in a packed goalmouth following a Donal McKibben corner.

It was 2-0 eight minutes later when Stephen Tierney played a delightful ball into Trainor and the iceman made no mistake this time with a cool finish.

Castlewellan weren’t finished just yet and with the game in added time, Liam McKibben linked up with Morgan and Tierney to put the ball on a plate for Sean Russell and he beat McVeigh all ends up to m make it 3-0.

Any hopes of a Rovers fightback in the second half were quickly dispelled.

Trainor chanced his arm with a left-footed volley from the edge of the box, when Russell chipped the ball in his direction in the first minute and his angled effort went in via the far post.

Rovers tried gamely to get something out of the game and Neil Doran was unlucky to see a shot from distance strike the crossbar before Russell blasted a cross from Morgan into Loughinisland.

The Town really should have made it 5-0 ten minutes later when a Liam McKibben cross was met full on by Morgan.

His effort was saved magnificently by McVeigh, but the ball rebounded out to Morgan who had an open goal in front of him. However, he inexplicably shot wide.

It was 5-0 a few minutes later when Clarke, who didn’t put a foot wrong all afternoon, rose above everyone in the box to head home a Trainor corner and complete another great day at the office for Castlewellan’s invincibles.

Rovers have a quick chance for revenge as they take on Castlewellan in the league on Saturday at Carginagh Road.

Castlewellan: R. Burns, B. Travers, C. Corrigan, C. Stratton, J. Clarke, S. Russell, L. Toner, S. Tierney, D. McKibben, D. Morgan, S. Trainor. Subs: L. McKibben, A. Burns, K. Jarosinski, A. Kelly.

Mourne Rovers: B. McVeigh, R. Clarke, N. McArdle, R. Doran, C. O’Hare, R. Clerkin, N. Doran, S. McManus, R. O’Hare, C. Harrison, R. Kelly. Subs: J. Carroll, C. Burden, R. Sloan, D. Sherry, M. Trimble.

ClubSport NI man of the match: John Clarke (Castlewellan