Grangevale prove too good for Castleview in AUL Premier A
Grangevale's John Barry gets his pass away as Castleview's Stephen Barrett closes in.
GRANGEVALE kept their unbeaten record in the league intact after a hard-earned 2-1 victory over Castleview in what was a cracking Premier A game at the Mayfield United all-weather facility.
Although Grangevale will be delighted with the win, a draw would not have been an out of place result either.
The View got off to a super start and after winning a corner on five minutes, Cian White rose to head home the opener and hand his side the early advantage.
Minutes later; Jamie O’Donovan did well to turn inside his marker before firing straight at Kennedy.
A lovely diagonal ball then from Dave Barrett reached Phil Sweetnam who turned inside before drilling wide.
A great chance fell for the View when Kelvin Greaney played in James Green, but Kennedy produced a superb block to deny the striker.
It was all square on 18 minutes though when a hooked pass from Barrett picked out Tabb who dinked over the advancing Castleview keeper to restore parity once again.
Castleview responded with Dylan McCarthy playing in James Green, but Kennedy was smartly off his line to produce a fine block.
It was end to end stuff now and Grangevale came so close to nosing in front when a cracking effort from Tabb cannoned off the butt of the upright before being cleared to safety.
A ball over the top fell for Ross Kiely, but McCarthy responded promptly to smother the danger.
McCarthy was in action again soon afterwards – this time parrying Ross Kiely’s stinging effort away to safety.
At the other end, Jamie O’Donovan failed to beat Kennedy with a near post effort while at the other end, Tabb hooked narrowly over.
With just seconds to the break, Stephen Barrett headed narrowly wide from Cian White’s cross.
The second half was introduced with McCarthy having to get his body behind a crisply struck effort from a free kick by Dave Barrett.
Cian White produced a decent run before turning inside to force Kennedy to a solid save.
Then, Jamie O’Donovan collected from Greaney before turning to fire over with his angled effort.
The game continued to ebb and flow and next up to threaten was Grangevale’s Tabb who grazed the upright with a stinging low effort.
And after Dave Barrett tried his luck from distance with a fine effort that failed to come off, Castleview’s Kelvin Greaney produced a fine run and strike.
Further opportunities were squandered from Castleview’s Cian White and James Green before we saw Grangevale’s Billy Tabb unleash a looping effort that sailed in over the hands of Ryan McCarthy to hand Grangevale the lead with ten minutes to go.
Phil Sweetnam came so close to making it 3-1 when his run and strike flashed agonisingly past the far post as Ryan McCarthy could only look on.
Grangevale looked like they were finishing the stronger of the two now with Sweetnam coming close once again with another low stinging effort that flashed past the post.
Then, with just second remaining, Grangevale’s substitute forced McCarthy into bringing off a superb save, but it mattered little at that stage as referee Tony Thompson brought closure to what was a wonderful contest, played in the best of spirits by two sides that gave it everything.
This victory now means that Grangevale sits comfortably in third spot behind Killumney United and UCC in Premier A.
Best for Grangevale were Ryan Kennedy between the sticks who produced some crucial saves over the 90 minutes.
Gregg Barry also impressed quite a lot in the left full birth.
Best for Castleview was Cian White who did a lot of good work on the right-side of midfield.
Grangevale: Ryan Kennedy, John Barry, Gregg Barry, Diarmuid O’Neill, Alan Buckley, Mickey Hennessy, Ross Kiely, Pablo Mira Anton, Billy Tabb, Dave Barrett and Phil Sweetnam.
Subs: Mikey Hayes for Diarmuid O’Neill (40), Dan Harvey for Pablo Mira Anton (50), Adam O’Regan and Brian O’Leary for Mickey Hennessy and Ross Kiely (63).
Castleview: Ryan McCarthy, Dylan McCarthy, Dylan Cambridge, James Nagle, Aaron Dennehy, Sean O’Driscoll, Cian White, Kelvin Greaney, Jamie O’Donovan, James Green and Stephen Barrett.
Subs: Thomas Fitzgerald for Dylan McCarthy (65).
Referee: Tony Thompson.
