The last time that the Town were beaten in the Bobby Dalzell cup was September 2009 (by Portaferry) but Annalong came pretty close to ending their love affair with the competition. The ‘new look’ visitors came with nothing to lose and started like a house on fire. Both sides had decent chances early on but Annalong went ahead deservedly after 12 minutes when their striker swept home a right wing cross with ease.
Last years treble winners looked anything but in the first half as only McArdle, Trainor and Stratton showed the level of commitment that was required. However as the half went on they did regroup, up their workrate and get in behind their Mourne opponents. Despite several opportunities to equalise Castlewellan remained in arrears until the half time whistle.
Clearly the town management had plenty to say at half time as they came out a different animal altogether. The town played with width and stretched the Annalong defence to breaking point. Tackles became crisper, passes more accurate and penetrating. It seemed only a matter of time before the home side would restore parity, but somehow Annalong held out. With 12 minutes left all looked lost for the home side as Paddy Keown’s effort from 20 yards thudded against the post, it seemed just like their junior Cup game versus Ballykelly a couple of weeks ago when they were so much on top but couldn’t score. 8 minutes from time however the home team got their just reward when McKibben’s cross caused havoc and twice in the ensuing scramble an Annalong defender handled on the line, fortunately for Castlewellan the ref saw the second of these awarded the penalty and sent off the culprit. Paddy Keown had to wait over the kick for quite a while before he was allowed to take it thereby heightening the pressure, but the big man knowing the importance of the kick dispatched expertly to the net. Castlewellan went all out for the winner but again frantic and heroic defending kept them at bay. At the other end though the town were given a couple of scares as Annalong broke quickly and Aidan Kelly cleared off the line with Watson beaten near the end of 90 minutes.
With three minutes of the first half of extra time gone Liam McKibben put the town ahead for the first time ably assisted by Daniel Morgan and Donagh Steele. The lead only lasted a couple of minutes however as Annalong equalised when a free kick on the right deceived the home defence and the teams were level. Castlewellan always looked more likely to score and McKibben again produced the goods when his shot was deflected past the Swifts keeper and with time almost up Daniel Morgan headed home number 4.
Whilst I don’t think there is any doubt that Castlewellan deserved to win they made things difficult by their slow start. Last season we were starting like a house on fire and had a lot of teams beaten by the half hour mark. It’s a habit that we will have to eradicate if there is to be any silverware this season, certainly in the second half when we got men wide we saw our better side, stretching Annalong to breaking point and creating enumerable chances, so it’s not as if we’ve lost the ability but the intensity needs to be like it was in the second half and in extra time. We were hungry for the ball won most of our tackles and were disciplined in our approach play getting wide and throwing crosses in. In the first half only Ruairi McArdle, Conor Stratton and Stevie Trainor showed anything like their true form. As I said thankfully, things did change dramatically in the second half with improved performances all round, the substitutes who came on all did well particularly Sean Russell who made a big impact in midfield. So it’s a semi final against Mourne Rovers to look forward to and as I’m sure everyone knows our intensity will have to be good if we are to get the required result.
