The town had a very important few days over the weekend with a Junior Shield 4th round tie against Portavogie Rangers and a Bobby Dalzell Cup semi final against Ardglass Swifts. First up was the journey to Portavogie who had dismissed the town 2 years ago on penalties. This time however Castlewellan prevailed with some ease despite the 2-1 scoreline. The boys were good value for their win taking the lead via Stevie Tierney on 26 minutes. Several chances went abegging due to good goalkeeping and dubious refereeing. Portavogie equalised with 20 minutes left but Castlewellan deservedly clinched the game when the evergreen Stevie Trainor slotted home with 5 minutes left.
Ardglass Swifts provided the opposition on the following Monday night in the Bobby Dalzell Cup semi final under floodlights at the Assumption College in Ballynahinch. The Swifts came out of the blocks all guns blazing giving the town plenty to think about. However when Daniel Morgan headed home after 18 minutes the holders settled and controlled the game without extending themselves. Ardglass however did equalise after 25 minutes with a header following a corner, it was a minor blip however as the town used the pitch well and finished the half 4-1 up with goals from John Clarke, Danny Morgan (pen) and an OG.
The second half continued in a similar vein with Castlewellan playing most of the football and eventually extending their lead to 6-1 with Toner and Tierney scoring. Some of the tackling was borderline to say the least and referee McClements was very lenient on occasion as things threatened to get out of hand, two players Barry Kearney from Ardglass and Nial Toner from Castlewellan were dismissed late on although Nial (who has a fistful of Bobby Dalzell winners medals) will hardly worry as he wouldn’t have been playing anyway as he gets married on the 29th. Ardglass did get a consolation goal in the latter stages. Man of the match was Liam McKibben who shone throughout despite shipping some heavy tackles.
