Castlewellan surged through to the Harry Clarke semis with with what can only be described as a demolition job on Annalong. The town mastered the conditions so much better and were superior in every department. Playing with a stiff breeze they took the lead after 15 minutes when Donal McKibben fired home a direct free kick from fully 30 yards. Moments later it was almost two but John Clarke’s header from a Trainor corner came off the bar. Annalong missed a great opportunity on 25 minutes but their forward miscued in front of goal and the effort went wide. Castlewellan upped the tempo and scored two goals in quick succession when firstly, Tierney played in Trainor with an exquisite through ball and Stevie flicked past the onrushing Haughian, and when Russell’s lob was fumbled, Morgan was on hand to poke the ball home for the town’s third. Playing against the breeze in the second half Castlewellan played the ball about very well and on 52 minutes Davy Gilmore scored the goal of the game when some lovely interplay between Steele, Trainor and Russell released Gilmore who steered home. Two more quickfire goals, a volley from Lee Ward and another Stevie Trainor effort stretched the lead to 6 and to rub salt in the wounds Danny Morgan notched a seventh with time running out. Whilst there were any number of very good performances Barry Travers edges the man of the match award this week.
Fabulous performance sees the town into Harry Clarke semis.
It’s not often that Annalong suffer such a defeat but make no mistake Castlewellan were well worth the big margin, they played some lovely stuff particularly in the second half. The loss of the classy Luke Toner recently has been offset somewhat with the introduction of Davy Gilmore in the centre of midfield and his workrate and speed combine perfectly with the combative attributes of Donagh Steele. Another notable introduction lately is the young and very talented Lee Ward. He fitted seamlessly into the right side of midfield when he came on and deserved to get on the scoresheet. With Conor Stratton and Marty Clarke still to come back into the reckoning the scramble for places is intense.
