Edwards shines brightest under the lights for Celtic
Ballinrobe Town's Peter Butler in an entanglement with Castlebar Celtic's Oran Groarke. Picture: John Corless
The champions picked up where they left off as Castlebar Celtic started the season with a four-goal victory over Ballinrobe Town under the floodlights at Celtic Park last Friday evening.
With reigning Footballer of the Year Dylan Edwards pulling the strings, Paul Walsh netted a first half brace and an own goal before the break put the game to bed before half time. Luke Kelly added a fourth goal late on in a game where Ballinrobe failed to have any kind of impact; the south Mayo side defended well at times but had little to offer going forward, not managing a shot on target in the 90 minutes.
It took Celtic a while to find the breakthrough but after half an hour their two best players up to that point, left winger Dylan Edwards and Paul Walsh on the opposite flank, who linked up for the opener. Edwards played a picture-perfect pass curling over the Ballinrobe rearguard and Walsh squeezed in behind, taking it with precision out of the air and finishing well to give Celtic the lead.
Three minutes later, Walsh went on a dizzying run on the right side and cut inside ala Arjen Robben and sent an effort towards goal that hit a Ballinrobe body on its way to the back of the net.
Any chance Ballinrobe manager Chris McGauley had of rallying his players at the break was snatched away in the 44th minute as they failed to clear Edwards’ dangerous cross and Jonathan Lawrence inadvertently turned the ball into his own net.
In fact, Ballinrobe barely managed to get the ball out of their own half in the second 45 as Celtic continued to dominate. They were able to ring the changes and introduce Jason Hunt, Johnnie Cocozza and Luke Kelly off the bench, another example of the strength in depth the Connacht champions have in their ranks.
‘Robe were strong defensively but eventually Celtic found their fourth and final goal with three minutes left in normal time. Dylan Edwards, whose performance warranted a goal, smashed the frame of the goal with a well-taken effort and Luke Kelly was on hand to tidy it up and apply the finish.
There is a tough week in store for Castlebar Celtic following this victory with their outstanding Round 1 fixture against Ballyheane going ahead (tomorrow) Thursday evening and a few days later, they will visit Westport United. Ballinrobe Town will be hoping to get their first points on the board as they take on Conn Rangers.
