AUL: League leaders Mallow Town beaten by Castlebridge Celtic
Castlebridge Celtic had a 2-1 victory over Mallow Town in their League 3 clash at the Fermoy FC Astro facility. Picture: Barry Peelo.
League 3 leaders Mallow Town suffered a defeat at the hands of Castlebridge Celtic in their clash at the Fermoy FC Astro facility over the weekend.
It was a game of two halves really as Castlebridge controlled the first 45 while Mallow Town had the lion’s share in the second period, but lacked fire-power up top to avail of any chances that came their way.
Castlebridge were good value though for their win as they pulled out all the stops to get themselves over the line in the end.
In the opening exchanges, Cian O’Driscoll’s effort to turn and strike was blocked by a firm intervention from Mallow Town’s Eoin Howell.
A lovely move then from Castlebridge nearly brought about the first goal – Kieran Barrett slid a neat ball into space for Cian O’Driscoll, but he guided his effort agonisingly wide of the post.
Then, from Aaron Fenton’s corner, Jordon Gordon Harvey got his head to the delivery, but did not have enough power on his effort to trouble Mark Kelleher.
Castlebridge continued to enjoy the possession now and when Jack Murray headed over from a corner, Kieran Barrett’s turn and strike was well blocked by Cian O’Callaghan.
And when Cian O’Driscoll collected from Colin Shealy, Erhabor threw his body on the line to make a solid block.
But, another chance fell for Castlebridge when after Cian O’Driscoll out-foxed his opponent, he steadied before curling an effort, inches wide as Kelleher looked on.
This was followed at the other end by a dipping effort from Eoin Howell that went narrowly over.
A nice move developed on the right which included Castlebridge Celtic’s Cian O’Driscoll when he moved it into space for Kieran Barrett, but his intended cross for the unmarked Conor Twomey was intercepted in the nick of time by Mark Kelleher.
Then, when Kelleher was forced to punch clear just inside the box, it arrived for Cian O’Driscoll, who tried to dink it into an unprotected net, but the Mallow goalkeeper back-peddled promptly enough to grab to safety in the end.
A chance did arrive for Mallow Town when Eoin Howell lifted a cross forward for Tomas Cronin, but he failed to head past the advancing Barry Sheehy.
Cronin had a half chance after that, but he could not get his feet together to get a shot away while inside the box, seconds before the break.
The second period was just five minutes in when Castlebridge took the initiative and it arrived when Cian O’Driscoll set Jordan Gordan Harvey up to hook past Mark Kelleher.
A strong run from Jack Murray saw him skip past two tackles before he arrived, deep into the Mallow defensive third to fire a low effort at Kelleher.
But, Mallow started to get a firmer grip on the game now as Castlebridge were forced behind the ball and it was Tomas Cronin, who did have a chance, but he fired over from a favourable position.
Mallow continued to press, but that final ball along with lacking someone with an eye for goal left them down repeatedly and in the 82nd minute, there was now way back when Shane Fenton was allowed turn in the box before burying his effort, deep in the Mallow net.
Mallow did show plenty of resilience though and managed to claw one back, when from a cross, Luis Miguel Salmeron produced a perfect volley when he slammed his first-time effort past Barry Sheehy in the 94th minute.
It was too little too late though as Castlebridge held on to their victory and the three points in the end.
Barry Sheehy, Aaron Fenton, Padraig Dolan, David Twomey, Colin Shealy, Cian O’Driscoll, Kieran Barrett, Malik Mahhad, Dion McCormack, Jason Gordan Harvey, Jack Murray, Conor Twomey.
Grakjan Platek for Aaron Fenton (67), Shane Fenton for Cian O’Driscoll (77), Malik Hamad for Jack Murray (85), Jason Moorehouse for Dion McCormack (90).
Mark Kelleher, Cian O’Callaghan, Daniel Maloney, Gallilo Erhabor, Rober Meza Zapata, Adam Crolwey, Eoin Howell, Stephen O’Sullivan, Dylan McCarthy, Ryan O’Sullivan, Tomas Cronin.
Scott McCabe for Cian O’Callaghan (55), Louis Miguel Salmeron for Roger Zappata (58), Jamies O’Mullane for Daniel Maloney (65).
Sumate Virak.
Elsewhere, there were goals galore at the Fermoy FC Astro facility as Watergrasshill United defeated Sullane FC 8-4 in their League 3 clash over the weekend.
Watergrasshill United’s goals came from Seweryn Szostak (hat-trick), O’Leary (two), O’Brien (two) and McMurtry.
Sullane FC’s scorers were Michael Dineen (two), Darragh Lynch and Aodha Keane.
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