Celtic move within a point of Super League title
Fionn Mahon opened the scoring for Castlebar Celtic before half-time. Picture: Castlebar Celtic FC
Castlebar Celtic put one hand on the Super League trophy as their phenomenal centenary year continued with a hard fought victory over Ballina Town in Celtic Park on Sunday morning.
Stevie Gavin’s side were made to fight all the way to the final whistle for this victory, arguably their toughest one of the season to date, and move to within one point of retaining their Super League title.
A tenth clean sheet of the season also saw the Hoops move on to a scarcely believable +66 goal difference after 14 games.
The story of this game, however, was not one of an attacking masterclass from the home side but an at times backs against the wall battle as Ballina Town threw everything at their hosts but couldn’t find the back of the net despite numerous good chances throughout.
It took a while for the game to come to life and it was the North Mayo men who came closest to scoring in the early stages. Daniel Gorman and Donagh Crowne had chances just after the 10 minute mark while Stephen Melvin will still be trying to figure out how he didn’t tuck away a low cross from Tiernan Tighe in the 18th minute.
Celtic began to gain a foothold in the game following Melvin’s chance as Oran Groarke and Jordan Loftus gained sight at goal but couldn’t trouble Emmett Peyton.
The deadlock was broken on the half-hour mark when Mark Cunningham whipped a low cross into the middle of the penalty box and Fionn Mahon fired to the net.
There was a question of Cunningham being offside but with only one official on duty referee Damien MacGrath could not be blamed for not being in line with the last defender.
Ballina pushed to get an equaliser in the second period, letting Castlebar have most of the ball in the midfield and attempting to punish them on the break. Jamie Cawley had two good opportunities but pulled both to the outside of the near post after cutting in from the left.
Substitutes Oisin Tighe and Ryan Moran both had good chances to level the tie, Moran’s header in the 72nd minute being blocked on the line by one of his teammates and Jamie Moyles surely thought he had equalised on 85 minutes when his shot whizzed across the face of the goal.
Celtic weathered the storm in the second-half and wrapped up the points in the 89th minute when Dylan Edwards whipped a low corner into the six yard box and Loftus reacted quickest to smash the ball to the net.
Castlebar Celtic manager, Stevie Gavin, was full of praise for his players after the final whistle, acknowledging they had come through a tough tie: “Ballina is always going to be a tough game, there’s never much between the teams. We knew today we would get nothing soft and it was one of our toughest games of the season.
“We’ve been taking our chances this season and that’s showing in the results. Generally it hasn’t been one or two goal wins but you can hear from the reaction of the lads that these kind of victories sometimes mean more.
“It does feel like we have one hand on the trophy now, I wouldn’t normally say that but today was a massive step towards it. We still have to pick up one more point and I hope we can do that.”
