The Town can breath a sigh of relief to get this game out of the way. Kilkeel who Castlewellan defeated easily 8-2 last Saturday conjured up some new players and really put it up to the league champions.
It may have been a much improved Kilkeel team but the home side were their own worst enemies, they were coasting after 30 minutes, 3 goals to the good and playing some good stuff when 5 minutes of defensive madness saw them clinging on for the remainder of the game. Ruairi McArdle got the Town off to the best possible start on 3 minutes when he slammed home a direct free kick from 20 yards. Further chances were created and missed by Castlewellan but eventually Stevie Trainor put them 2 up after 16 minutes. The Town continued to be wasteful in front of goal until Paddy Keown scored brilliantly from another direct free kick. Almost immediately Trainor had the ball in the net again as the Kilkeel keeper and his centre half collided leaving Stevie with the simplest of chances, however the referee deemed that in fact Trainor had fouled the keeper and gave a free out instead, a bit of a guess from the ref I’m afraid but the Town were so far ahead protests were only half hearted. At this point Castlewellan took their eye off the ball and Kilkeel reduced the arrears when from a free kick wide on the right the Town defence tried to spring the offside trap but not everyone went out and this left Weir with the simple task of heading home. Four minutes later it got even worse for the home side when McIlmurry dispossessed of all people Conor Stratton to make the half time score 3-2. It could have been even worse as Kilkeel had a great shout for a penalty which wasn’t given. Perhaps the referee was evening up the injustice of disallowing Trainor’s goal.
Kilkeel’s tails were up and they came out fighting in the second period getting as much ball as possible up to their speedy forwards. Castlewellan had to defend frantically at times but reduced Kilkeel to very few clear cut chances. At the other end the town certainly had plenty of chances of their own but just couldn’t find the finishing touch that would have settle their nerves. Kilkeel had another penalty shout turned down but Castlewellan ran down the clock to record another three points.
A frustrating match for Castlewellan who were excellent in the first half hour but committed defensive hari kari to give the visitors hope, they can’t afford to do this again or they will only have the Bobby Dalzell Cup to show for their efforts this season. Certainly it wasn’t a lack of effort on the Town’s behalf, initially it was carelessness in defence giving Kilkeel hope. In the second half Castlewellan had enough chances to win 5 matches but things just didn’t happen for them on the day.
Kilkeel played well in the second period and for sure if they had that side out all season they wouldn’t be in the position they are now, but it was very nice of them to offer three cheers to Castlewellan at the end.
Tin tin heads just wide in the first half last night.
