The Town battled their way to their second final of an already successful season with a deserved 3-2 victory over Ballyvange. A goal from Daniel Morgan in the 89th minute left the Downpatrick side with no way back and Castlewellan will now go on to face either Ballyvea or Valley Rangers who play the second Harry Clarke semi final next saturday (7th). The final will be at Drumaness on May 11th.
Castlewellan were dealt a severe blow when star performer Aidan Burns was unable to play due to a back injury and Mickey Watson was unavailable. However such is the strength in depth in the club at the minute that their absense was scarcely noticed, indeed they could afford the luxury of leaving the mercurial Liam McKibben on the bench, not many local clubs be they Newcastle League or Amateur league could do that.
The game took time to settle with both midfields trying to assert their authority, but eventually the town took control and created several great chances, none of these were taken unfortunately and you got the impression that these missed opportunities would come back to haunt them.
The second half started in whirlwind fashion with Ballyvange taking an early lead, Nial Toner restored parity soon after but again Ballyvange regained the lead. With 10 minutes to go Stevie Trainor’s accurate free kick was turned in by Dean Anderson, and with time nearly up Daniel Morgan burst onto Liam McKibben’s through ball to lob the Ballyvange keeper and 
put Castlewellan through to yet another final, ‘Vange tried their hardest in the 5 minutes of injury time but Castlewellan’s back four saw the game out with the minimum of fuss.
A good team effort from the town and a deserved victory with several outstanding individual performances Dean Anderson was a collossus in midfield and Aidan Kelly marshalled the back four expertly, it’s going to be interesting to see who gets the nod for the final on May 11th, but there are still seven league games to play and the league is still within our grasp. Mourne Rovers are up next at the mourne venue and it’s never easy up there, hopefully we will maintain our good run.
