The town eased their way into the Junior Shield quarter finals on Saturday with a comprehensive victory over high flying Lower Shankill from the Amateur League. The Belfast men came with a big reputation following some excellent wins over intermediate standard opposition lately but found Castlewellan too strong and clinical.
The locals could hardly have had a better start, going a goal up after 4 minutes when Russell’s driven cross was turned into his own net by a Shankill defender. Ten minutes later it was 2-0 when Daniel Morgan scored from the spot following a handball in the area. Castlewellan were adapting much better to the conditions and Shankill’s frustration showed when one of their midfielders hacked Davy Gilmore down but only received a yellow card. As the half progressed though the Belfast team began to threaten and pulled a goal back just before the break.
The second period started with the visitors on top and after 58 minutes they equalised with Castlewellan claiming offside. Definitely ‘game on’ at this stage but only two minutes later Danny Morgan scored a peach of a free kick from 25 yards after he himself had been pulled down. This goal coming so soon after the equaliser seemed to take the wind out of the visitors sails and on 70 minutes Donal McKibben’s cross was fumbled over the line by the Shankill keeper. 6 minutes on and it was 5-2 when the referee awarded the town another penalty when Morgan was yet again fouled in the box, Danny duly dispatched the spot kick and completed a great day for himself in the dying minutes with a fourth following up after Donagh Steele’s effort had been saved. Star of the show in a good team effort was Daniel Morgan, closely followed by Davy Gilmore and Stevie Tierney. Unfortunately it looks as though they will have to do without club captain Connor Stratton, who returned to the fray unsuccessfully following the hamstring injury he received in Boxing day’s Bobby Dalzell Cup final.
All in all the town have to be pleased with the result, but it’s unfortunate that they didn’t produce the same cutting edge in their Junior Cup game against Ardoyne two weeks ago. However they now go through to meet another Belfast side Willowbank with the game scheduled for March 7th in Castlewellan.
