Castlerea complete double with Cup success

Roscommon and District League Herald Cup Final report by Vincent Brookes.

Castlerea Celtic 1 Ballymoe FC 0

Castlerea Celtic completed the League and Cup double on a glorious evening at the Roscommon and District league Grounds Lecarrow on Saturday evening. They beat neighbours Ballymoe FC 1-0 to win the Cup for the sixth time. Ballymoe were without three key players for the game and were forced to play their Semi-Final goal scoring hero Gregory Grogan as a full back. As a result Castlerea Celtic were the dominant side in the first half and Ballymoe had to rely on Ross Timothy hoping he could get a score on the break away. Peter Farrell came close to giving Castlerea Celtic the lead after nine minutes following a Niall Higgins cross but his attempt was over the bar. John Connaughton and Aidan Brogan cleared two dangerous corners and keeper Michael Kenny saved well to deny Jack Higgins, the Castlerea Celtic full back and man of the match. At the other end Paddy Gunning the Castlerea keeper was outstanding through out the game and his handling gave confidence to his defence. The only goal of the game was scored with seventeen minutes played. Castlerea Celtic won a corner kick which was taken by Nathan Bligh. The ball reached Ronan Curran and his neat cross to the far post reached Peter Farrell who headed past a helpless Michael Kenny. Despite some good runs from the back by Gregory Grogan, Castlerea Celtic were on top for the remainder of the half. At the break Ballymoe introduced Kieran Dowd, Cathal Connelly and James Tarmey and their more physical presence turned the game in favour of Ballymoe. In fact Castlerea Celtic had hardly a shot on target in the second half. However Ballymoe relied on long balls into the Castlerea Celtic area and these were usually picked up by the Castlerea Celtic keeper Paddy Gunning. Much to the delight of their supporters and Managers Pat Donoghue and Kevin Mc Namara Castlerea Celtic held on for the win.

Afterwards the Leagues Chairman Thomas Cunningham presented the Cup to the winning captain David Fitzpatrick.

Teams
Castlerea Celtic: Paddy Gunning Derek Kennedy Jack Higgins Eoghan O Connell Cathal Dinnen David Fitzpatrick Niall Higgins
Nathan Bligh Peter Farrell Ronan Curran Dominic Bligh Subs Enda Foster Jarlath Geraghty Aaron Keane Padraig Colleary Trevor Kelly Patrick Egan Thomas Byron

Ballymoe FC: Michael Kenny Gregory Grogan Keith Keenan John Connaughton Aidan Brogan Paul Hynes Mark Kilcommons
Ross Timothy Daniel Malone Adrian Collins Niall Collins Subs Jason Tarmey Damien Conboy Kieran Dowd Cathal Connelly Kevin Morgan Robbie Keenan David Ward