Castlewellan recorded a fine 3-1 victory at the Bann Road in the Junior Cup first round defeating Tummery Athletic from the Fermanagh and Western League.
The lads started like a house on fire and were a goal to the good on 7 minutes when the recently returned Ruari McArdle (pictured below)hammered home a beauty direct from a free kick. It should have been 2 after 10 minutes but after being awarded a penalty big Deano missed the spot kick and fluffed the rebound. In a very physical game some of the tackling was of the x rated variety and one of the Athletic men could easily have walked. With 25 minutes gone Ruari McArdle doubled the town’s lead with a good finish. The town were playing a good controlled game with their defence yet again holding firm despite Tummery having plenty of possession. With 40 minutes gone Breannan McCommisky (pictured above) shot the home side further ahead as they went into the break 3 goals to the good.
In the second half the town seemed to be content to hang onto their lead, always a dangerous policy, but they held out fairly comfortably until 15 minutes from time when Tummery’s substitute stole in to score at the back post (see pic), probably the only time in the game where the Castlewellan defence switched off.
While it was a concerted team effort that got us through I would have to say that young Sean Dornan put in a great shift up front never giving the visitors any peace. Once we file down a few rough edges he is going to be a star for us in future.
