Cathedral bag bragging rights against Blackpool in battle of the Celtics

Cathedral Celtic 2 Blackpool Celtic 0

CATHEDRAL CELTIC earned bragging rights and the points after their local derby game with Blackpool Celtic ended with a 2-0 victory in League 1 at the Mayfield Community School’s all-weather facility.

And with the high degree of competitiveness in this division, this victory was a massive result for Cathedral.

Over the 90 minutes, I believe they deserved it as they seemed to have more of a cutting edge up front then their opponents on the day.

They also created more chances and with a bit of good fortune, could have had a couple more in the first 45.

As you would expect from a local derby, the game burst into life from the off with Jordan O’Connor producing a fine save from Jason Byrne.

Then, at the other end, Michael Peters picked out Rob Rourke with a neat pass, but the striker miscued near the edge of the box.

The roles were reversed minutes later when Rourke found Peters who thumped the butt of the uprights with a crisply struck effort.

A nice Blackpool move developed after that which saw O’Shea pick out Timmy Twomey who dinked a good ball on for Dave Twomey, but control let him down and with it, a half chance.

And after O’Shea forced O’Connor to a low save, Cian Madden crossed for Luke O’Mahony to head wide.

Cathedral’s Madden found Michael Peters with a good ball and after swivelling, Peters produced a stinging strike that was matched by a fine save from Willie Matthews.

Blackpool had a let off minutes later when after Willie Matthews was forced to parry from Morgan O’Connor’s free kick, Cian Madden was first to the loose ball, but fired wide near goal.

And when Rob Rourke latched on to a ball over the top, he was denied by a fine block from Matthews.

Cathedral had the upper hand at this point and when Morgan O’Connor collected from Rob Rourke, he drilled over from an acute angle.

With just seconds to the break, Cathedral came so close to edging in front when after Colin Farmer’s headed clearance reached Michael Peters, he cracked a low effort agonisingly wide.

Both sides started with a lively approach to the second period, but it was Cathedral who threatened first when the impressive Madden skipped past two opponents before forcing Matthews to push out for a corner from his forceful strike.

And when play switched to the other end, Colm Coveney swivelled before rifling over from outside the box.

Matthews was brought into action again soon afterwards – this time he had to get his body behind a firmly struck effort from Rourke.

And he had to be in the right place then to collect from a header by Garuba shortly after.

Cathedral’s Josh Thuanadrou was introduced to the action after that and within minutes, he slotted into the corner from Morgan O’Connor’s low cross to hand his side the lead on the hour.

A response from Blackpool saw Cathedral’s Michael Peters throw his body on the line to deny Timmy Twomey’s cracking effort reaching the target.

The game was really opening up now with play shifting swiftly from one end to the next and when Colm Coveney knocked it back for O’Shea, he lifted his effort over from the edge of the box.

Then, Jordan O’Connor had to be sharp to punch clear from Joe Kinsella’s free kick.

This was followed by a near miss when Blackpool’s Timmy Twomey slotted narrowly wide.

But, Cathedral doubled their advantage on 70 minutes when a neat assist by Rob Rourke set Madden off on the left channel before he drilled a terrific finish into the far corner.

And it could have been 3-0 minutes later when Michael Peters stole through before lifting his effort narrowly over from 20 yards out.

It mattered little as soon afterwards referee Richard O’Gorman brought closure to an enjoyable derby.

CATHEDRAL CELTIC: Jordon O’Connor, Alex O’Sullivan, Colin Farmer, Wadii Oridi, Luke O’Mahony, Amidou Garuba, Cian Madden, Michael Peters, Rob Rourke, Darren Heaphy and Morgan O’Connor.

BLACKPOOL CELTIC: Willie Matthews, Billy Murphy, Christopher O’Callaghan, Craig Horgan, Danny Leahy, Joe Kinsella, Dave Twomey, Jason Byrne, Timmy Twomey, Dylan Cruise O’Shea and Colm Coveney.

Referee: Richard O’Gorman.