The holders are through to the quarter finals of the Harry Clarke Cup but their performance left a lot to be desired, true they were missing Steele, Keown, Corrigan and Donal McKibben from last weeks squad but their display lacked enthusiasm and fluency.
Newcastle came with nothing to lose and went at the home side early on and had most of the early possession but once Castlewellan settled they found their men better and after 8 minutes Liam McKibben’s 20 yard effort looked simple enough for the Newcastle goalie but he made a hash of the save and the Town were 1 up. Clearly missing leading scorer Paddy Keown Castlewellan were wasteful in front of goal but did eventually find themselves 2 up after 25 minutes when the speedy McKibben raced onto a through ball and squared for Dean Anderson to slot home. Certainly the home side didn’t have it all their own way and the busy Murray and Fitzpatrick kept them honest in midfield throughout. A third goal for the town would have killed the game but it wouldn’t come and disaster struck right on half time when a careless back pass from McArdle only found Newcastle’s Conor McCombe and the ex town player struck home confidently to bring the seasiders back into the game.
The second half didn’t reach any great heights either and despite the promptings of Colm Flanagan Castlewellan’s best player on the day there was very little in the way of constructive football. In the 56th minute a cross from the right was only partially cleared by the Newcastle defence to the feet of Nial Toner who promptly dispatched the ball into the net for what was to be the killer goal. Both teams had chances thereafter but there was no further scoring.
Fair play to Newcastle who came and gave it a go but Castlewellan go through and will be hoping for a better performance in the quarter finals, certainly the narrow confines of the Bann Road pitch does little for their game. The one major positive for them was the return from injury of Barry Travers who came on in the second half.
