A walk in the Park for Celtic
Castlebar Celtic substitute Óisin Tighe beats Parkvilla’s Aoijus Sebelskis, left, and Callum Bonner. Picture: John Corless
Castlebar Celtic had an easy win over Meath side Parkvilla in the Celtic Park sunshine in the delayed fifth round FAI Junior Cup tie. Their reward is another home tie when they will face Clare side Tulla in the next round in August.
Celtic were on it from kick off and dominated the first half, limiting the visitors to two incursions into their half. First half goals from Jason Hunt and Daniel Ajenipa set the tie up for a home win, and when Dylan Felle scored immediately after the restart, Celtic were already through to the next round. Oran Murphy, the young Celtic midfielder scored a wonder goal out of nothing to seal the win, but when the hosts took their foot off the pedal, Parkvilla started to play a bit, and substitute, Tommy Buchanan pulled one back near the end to slightly adjust the complexion of the scoreline.
Celtic had come close through Ajenipa, Johnny Cocozza and Brian Walsh, before Hunt fired the first one to the net on 28 minutes, when he was brilliantly put through by Johnny Cocozza, immediately after the water break.
Parkvilla might have equalised when Stefan Hester came out to punch clear a long-range free kick, but experienced defender Ioseph O’Reilly read the danger and headed Jamie Blake’s lob off the line.
Ajenipa did it all on his own for Celtic’s second. He intercepted a lame back-pass and rounded three defenders and goalkeeper Daniel Gilmour before confidently slotting home.
Mark Cunningham was unlucky with a header at the back post when he met Ajenipa’s cross, guiding the ball the wrong side of the post.
Sloppy defending was also a prime contributor for Celtic’s third goal. Felle, pounced on a poor clearance by the goalkeeper when he received an unwelcome back pass, on 47 minutes. It was a crucial strike and killed off any hope of a Parkvilla revival.
Hunt had one over and one wide before Oran Murphy’s statement strike. The goal was an outstanding opportunist’s shot from forty metres out, which no one expected. Murphy has been outstanding for Celtic this season and it is a wonder he is not playing at a higher level.
Buchanan took his consolation goal well but while it changed the score line, it had little effect on the result.
Parkvilla were understrength and didn’t look up for it throughout. Key winger Callum Bonner was very quiet and crucially didn’t track his marker Cunningham, allowing the full back to add to the Celtic attack.
For Celtic, all their players put in solid performances. Hunt and Cocozza were a constant threat and Ajenipa had his best game yet in the hooped shirt.
The Castlebar club will soon welcome back Oran Groarke and Niall Brennan to add to their midfield, and Óisin Tighe, whom they signed from Ballina Town and who is recovering from injury, played for the final fifteen minutes on Sunday. Defender Cathal Coyne, who spent a season in Galway, is believed to be re-joining his hometown club when the window opens next week. Celtic manager Stevie Gavin will have difficult calls to make as the season progresses.
“Our aspirations are to get to the quarter-finals,” Gavin told the Western People after the game. “It's one more game and then we see can we get to the semi-final. Of course we'd like to win it, but one game at a time. If you have a bad five minutes in a competition like this, or you just have a bad couple of minutes, against good teams, they'll punish you. So we're very aware of that. There's no bad teams left in it the competition at this stage. We have another home tie we're really looking forward to it and we're in a good place at the minute.
“I thought we were very good against good opposition today. I was delighted we went in two-nil up at half-time, and I think what was really important, was the way we started the second half to go four up. We're disappointed we conceded near the end, but overall I'm happy.”
Castlebar Celtic: Stefan Hester; Mark Cunningham, Ioseph O’Reilly, Brian Walsh, Paul McDermott; Ben Murphy, Johnny Cocozza, Oran Murphy, Jason Hunt, Dylan Felle, Daniel Ajenipa. Subs: Fionn Mahon, Fionn McHale and Luke Kelly (for B Murphy, Hunt and Kelly 70), Oisin Tighe (for Ajenipa 77).
Parkvilla: Daniel Gilmour; Lee Williamson, James Friery, Lee Doyle, Craig Friery; Aoijust Sebelskis, Jamie Blake, Sam Kirwin; Kian Ratty, Roy Browne, Callum Bonner. Subs: Tommy Buchanan (for Williamson 46), Mackenzie Doyle (for Ratty 60), Ben O’Toole (for Browne 69).
REF: Eric Eaton.
