Castlewellan in their bid for a third Newcastle League championship in a row got off to a great start with a 2-0 victory away to Rossglass. It will have pleased the management no end that despite missing so many senior players from their squad that they can call on the younger generation to pull them through. Indeed some of the more established stars may have a fight on their hands to get their places back.
Rossglass started well and put the town under a lot of pressure early on but the greens defence superbly marshalled by Aidan Kelly withheld their early advances. The small confines of Dunleath Park is a pitch that Castlewellan have rarely played well on and although not at their best they went in front on 20 minutes when Toner’s free kick caused mayhem in the Rossglass defence and when the ball wasn’t cleared Conor Stratton scored a rare goal with his feet! Six minutes later it should have been 2-0 but Steele’s header was somehow disallowed by referee Deegan. Rossglass had plenty of possession but found the Castlewellan midfield industrious and their defence virtually water tight, in fact over the course of the 90 minutes Mickey Watson didn’t have a save of note to make, true several long range efforts were dealt with comfortably and some dangerous crosses but he had a fairly uneventful evening. Just before half time Nial Toner who had an excellent game saw his long range effort come off the bar to safety.
Rossglass came out fighting in the second period but yet again found Kelly, Stratton, Flanagan and Corrigan in imperious form. Somewhat against the run of play Castlewellan extended their lead when Shane Mooney volleyed home from just inside the area. Three minutes later however the visitors found themselves down to 10 men and the Rossglass number 5 should have suffered a similar fate but wasn’t even spoken to by the referee! The home team continued to have large amounts of possession but could do nothing with it and their frustration boiled over near the end when they too had a man red carded after a cynical foul.
Paddy Keown (pictured), put in a great shift up front where he and Mooney worked tirelessly.
