The town dodged a potential banana skin in their Harry Clarke quarter final last Saturday with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Tollymore. It was an excellent display from Castlewellan who apart from one defensive blunder in the second half hardly put a foot wrong.
Clearly Castlewellan’s management instilled the need to get on top early and thats exactly what transpired with the town lording the possession. For all their efforts though they found Tollymore diffficult to break down and as in the league game between the two recently had to wait until just before half time to engineer a breakthrough. Conal Corrigan picked out Paddy Keown and he outmuscled his marker and drilled home from the edge of the area. It was no more than the visitors deserved as chances from McArdle, Travers and Keown had all been squandered earlier.
The second period took on a similar look with Castlewellan very much up for the challenge. Seven minutes in and that man Paddy Keown extended their lead with yet another composed finish. That really should have been game over but Tollymore fought back and when a cross wasn’t cleared Johnny Hall nipped in toe poke the ball home with at least three Town defenders in a position to clear. In fairness to the Castlewellan defence it was the only occasion in the whole game where they switched off but they were punished for it. Tollymore tried valiantly to gain a solid foothold in the game but found the town a step ahead of them and it came as no surprise when that man Paddy Keown notched a third with yet another classy finish. They should have extended their lead through Toner and Dornan but in the end ran out comfortable winners.
Tollymore didn’t play as well as they did in the recent league match although Castlewellan’s high tempo game didn’t allow them any time on the ball. In an excellent all round display from the town Aidan Kelly, Barry Travers and Connor Stratton stood out and of course Paddy Keown was in the zone with some great finishing. Team selection will be interesting this week for the big semi final against Ballyvea.
