Shandon Celtic 7

Grattan United B 0

SHANDON CELTIC ignited their challenge on the League 3 title when they cruised to a 7-0 victory over Grattan B in their league encounter at Popham’s Road.

It was pretty much a one-sided affair with Shandon in total command throughout the contest.

And getting the nod for the man of the match performance was Damien Morey who was outstanding at left full all game.

His marauding runs down the left flank caused huge problems for Grattan time and time again.

But, in the final analysis, Grattan had no answer for Shandon’s cutting edge.

Shandon wasted little time in making their intentions known and very soon, Paul McGrath was brought into action when he had to push over from a stinging effort by James Gardiner following good work by Liam Eager.

And following two more corners in quick succession from Shandon, Grattan’s Adrian Duggan had to throw his body on the line to deny Charlie Daly’s goal bound effort reaching its target.

Shandon were starting to get plenty freedom down the left hand side and when Gardiner collected from Morey, he checked before slotting past McGrath for the opener on seven minutes.

One minute later, Grattan were rocked back on their heels again when they fell further behind after Glen Cambridge slammed home from Gardiner’s cross.

With Shandon having so much of the lion’s share now, the inevitable struck again on 19 minutes and what a goal we saw when Ian Shellard shifted to his left before unleashing a terrific strike which torpedoed into the top corner and hand Shandon a significant lead so early in the game.

In the face of adversity, Grattan B plugged away and Ken Bruton was unlucky not to get a touch near goal on Richard O’Hare’s low cross.

And following good work by Jamie Carroll, Adrian Duggan found space, but could only manage to fire straight at Stephen O’Callaghan.

Grattan were really being overpowered down the left side and it was Damien Morey who produced a wonderful run which saw him skip past two opponents before whipping in a cross for Glen Cambridge who headed home to make it 4-0 at the break.

A bright approach from Shandon had Paul McGrath in action with just minutes into the second period when he had to tip over from a stinging effort by Conor Kelly following a neat assist from Cambridge.

Minutes later; Gardiner set Damien Morey up with a chance which the full back took when he helped home from close range to make it 5-0 on 52 minutes.

Shandon continued in the ascendancy and following some flowing football, Conor Kelly found Sean O’Neill whose first effort was pushed away by McGrath – only to see the clearance come straight into the path of O’Neill again and after taking a steadying touch, he steered home to make it 6-0 on 67 minutes.

Grattan were finding it extremely difficult now to cope with Shandon’s movement with the ball and it was only a matter of time before we saw another Shandon goal which arrived compliments of substitute Dylan McCarthy who struck an absolute beauty from 20 yards which thumped off the inside of the upright before nestling solidly in the Grattan net.

This was to be the final score in what was a one-sided affair, but an important win nevertheless for Shandon Celtic who at this point share the race for the title with Churchvilla, Temple United and possibly Los Zarcos who are behind in games, but mathematically are still in there with a chance.

Shandon Celtic: Stephen O’Callaghan, Liam Eager, Damien Morey, Paul O’Driscoll, Alan O’Driscoll, Stephen McAuliffe, Charlie Daly, Conor Kelly, James Gardiner, Glen Cambridge and Ian Shellard.

Subs: William McCarthy and Sean O’Neill for Ian Shellard and James Gardiner (60), David Cummins and Dylan McCarthy for Damien Morey and Glen Cambridge (65), Jonathon Harris for Conor Kelly (75).

Grattan United B: Paul McGrath, Jamie Mason, David Forde, Stephen Harris, Ken Bruton, Adrian Duggan, Jordan Dowdall, Eugene Hennessy, Jamie Carroll, Richard O’Hare and Jason O’Leary.

Subs: Sean Harris for Jordan Dowdall (22), Kyle Spillane and Jamie Cronin for Eugene Hennessy and Ken Bruton (60), Jimmy O’Brien and PJ Reynolds for Jamie Mason and Jason O’Leary (65).

Referee: Billy Noonan.