Red letter day for Casement Celtic Football Club in 1983

THE Casement Celtic club created history in 1983 when they became the first to provide both finalists, A v B, for the Cork Area Final of the FAI Junior Cup. 

Sponsored by the Horse Shoe Inn the decider was staged in the virtual back garden of the club in Turner's Cross. 

The atmosphere, especially after training, was electric in that hostelry in the week of the final. 

The sides had to negotiate five hurdles before earning the right to contest the final. 

Premier League Champions Casement A were of course red hot favourites with the bullish bees having nothing to lose. 

Some of those reserve players were indignant and even felt stigmatized by this b tag. 

One annoyed reserve “star” approached the manager and asked him, “why he was on the B team”. 

“Because we don’t have a “C” team”, replied the chief. 

After all the hot air and bluster of the preceding week the final, expertly referee by League of Ireland official and former Casement player, was incident free. 

Billy O’Sullivan gave Celtic the lead after 30 minutes and they held this advantage to the interval. 

Celtic added a second two minutes after the restart through Paul O’Sullivan and this killed off the challenge of United. 

The underdogs had their chances in the opening half – Joe McCarthy hit the crossbar and Gene McGreevy saw his header take paint off the same bar.