Celtic set up Athenry showdown in Connacht
Jason Hunt's (pictured) injury-time goal secured Castlebar Celtic's path into the Connacht Cup quarter-final.
Castlebar Celtic are into the last eight of the Connacht Cup with a hard-fought win over in-form Sligo Super League side Cartron United.
Two second half goals saw Celtic book a quarter-final showdown against Athenry in what will be a repeat of last year’s final, which the Hoops lost on penalties in Milebush.
The only complaint for Stevie Gavin and Declan Flynn will be that the game wasn’t over before Jason Hunt’s injury time goal late on. They dominated the first half but were wasteful in front of goal, while the hosts offered precious little going forward. A sample of what was to come came inside two minutes when Mark Howley broke down the left and crossed it into Liam Flatley but Enda McGowan cleared away, while McGowan was there again to deny Luke Kelly on the 20 minute mark after the forward beat Ronan Callaghan to the ball on the edge of the area.
Jason Hunt was a livewire down the right for Celtic and he should have scored on 33 minutes when he cut inside past Ryan Lynch but his shot from eight yards came back off the post.
Another two chances came the Hoops way before half-time. Flatley was denied by the fingertips of Callaghan after a well-struck half volley from outside the area while Kelly could not sort his feet out from six yards after Hunt picked him out from the right.
Celtic finally made the breakthrough five minutes into the second half after Luke Kelly was brought down by McGowan just inside the area. Cartron protested that the foul happened outside the area but referee Paul Kilcoyne pointed to the spot and although Mark Cunningham saw his penalty saved, he converted the rebound to put them ahead.
The goal would spur Cartron into action, however, as they began to threaten more. Their best chance came on 69 minutes when Hester spilled a corner. Catron kept it alive and crossed it into Steven Patton but his header was straight at the goalkeeper.
Celtic introduced Fionn Mahon, Cathal Coyne and Dylan Edwards and Mahon set up a glorious chance for Edwards to put the game beyond doubt but his effort failed to clear Callaghan.
Hunt and Mahon were denied by Callaghan again as the game went into injury-time. The Cartron goalkeeper came up for a corner but Celtic dealt with it well and Edwards found Hunt with the goalkeeper still inside the Celtic half. Hunt, who has no luck in front of goal up this point, rolled it into the empty to secure Celtic’s safe passage into the quarter-finals and a heavyweight tie with Athenry in Celtic Park on Sunday, April 14.
Before that, Celtic begin the defence of the Super League title, starting this weekend under the Saturday night lights against Manulla in Celtic Park.
