Another comfortable victory for the town, plenty of chances created, six taken and another clean sheet, their management have to be happy with that.
Fair play to Carryduff though as they put up stubborn resistance for quite a while before succumbing to a confident Castlewellan. The visitors had a few chances early on and from the best of these Donagh Steele was narrowly over with his header. Carryduff’s goalkeeper made a truly wonderful save from Paddy Keown’s free kick on 24 minutes, but they couldn’t hold out for much longer and the game was basically put to bed in a six minute spell when the town scored three quickfire goals. Firstly Paddy Keown headed home after being set up by Barry Travers on 27 minutes, a minute later it was two when Sean Dornan’s flick was helped into the net by a home defender.
The goal of the match came on 33 minutes when big Paddy volleyed home from 20 yards following an ‘agricultural’ clearance from defence. As half time approached Paddy got his hatrick with a header from Conal Corrigan’s corner.
As per last week the town seemed content to protect their lead and play on the break. Carryduff saw more possession but in truth Mickey Watson didn’t have a save of note to make in the entire game. Castlewellan introduced their subs midway through the half and they slotted in seamlessly. Stevie Trainor making his first appearance since getting injured in the Charity Shield at the start of the season scored a fifth after 80 minutes when he was put through by Keown and with time almost up Keown grabbed a fourth after being placed by Donagh Steele.
All of this leaves Castlewellan in confident mood as they head into this week’s Junior Cup tie with Ballykelly Utd. Little is known of their northwest opponents, so we must concentrate on our own performance and what will be will be.
