Both the Town and Mourne Rovers are to be congratulated for producing anything resembling a football match on a day when ‘Scott of the Antarctic’ would have thought twice before venturing out. With at times blizzard conditions and a treacherous surface it was no surprise that both teams took time to find their feet. Both sides cancelled each other out for the first half hour until Castlewellan started to find their men and put together some great football. Donal McKibben came close to scoring after 34 minutes but McDowell made an excellent save.
Two minutes later though the Town went into the lead when Burn’s free kick was parried by the Rovers keeper only for Toner to lob back into the danger area where Dean Anderson nodded home from close in.
The second half started with Castlewellan on the offensive and they went 2 up on 47 minutes when Aidan Burns shot from the edge of the area deceived McDowell and ended up in the net. Anderson missed a great opportunity to seal the game a few minutes later but lobbed wide when he was clean through with the keeper committed. With about 5 left Burns got his second to complete the scoring.
Not a great game but conditions were terrible. The only downside from Castlewellan’s point of view was an injury to Stevie Trainor picked up during the warm up and he now has to be rated as very doubtful for the Junior Shield quarter final this coming Saturday.
