The town entertained last seasons champions Ballyvea on tuesday night and came out on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline. Some chaotic defending in the first 15 minutes left the town with a mountain to climb. The visitors found themselves 2 up and the points looked o be on their way back up to the mourne. However Castlewellan got their act together and dug deep to make the rest of the game one of the best there has been in Castlewellan for quite a while. Both teams had chances but half time came with the score still 2-0 to the visitors. Castlewellan brought on Liam Lennon and Donal McKibben at half time and they seemed to have the desired affect.
The towns play became more cohesive and some of their football was right out of the top drawer. However their insistence of playing high balls in to their forwards just played into the hands of Ballyvea’s goalie Steven Main who must be 6ft 6. Every time they attacked down the wings Ballvea had difficulty dealing with them and an array of crosses were either spurned or cleared by the visitors. Eventually the pressure had to tell and after 75 minutes the town were given a penalty for handball.
The ballvea defender probably felt agrieved but Paddy Keown didn’t mind and dispatched the award with confidence. Definitely game on now. The town’s pressure was incessant and how Ballyvea kept them out is anyones guess. As so often happens in such cases though the team in the ascendancy leave themselves open at the back and Ballyvea sealed the points with 5 minutes remaining through Burden although the cross should never have been allowed to come in. All in all a disappointing result for the town but they can take heart that their second half display was magnificent and the have some excellent players coming through namely Ruari Loughran at left back who was probably man of the match, Rory Burns who’s handling was safe throughout Donal McKibben who definitely added much needed steel in the midfield, Colm Devlin came on late at right back and acquited himself well but should never have allowed that late cross from which Ballyvea scored their third goal.
However with experience these young players will be the bedrock of the Castlewellan team for years to come, provided they arent poached by local amateur league clubs promising the earth and glory. Another player back in the frame was Liam Lennon who also came on at half time for the injured Mal Ward, he shored up the defence and kept Burden quiet untill almost the very end. So ultimately a defeat but plenty of positives to be taken from it.
