Kildrum Tigers made light of the loss of home advantage with a hugely impressive victory which sends them eight points clear at the top of the table.
Castlefin Celtic 0 Kildrum Tigers 3
A strong wind which blew towards the dressing room end coupled with squally showers made things difficult for both teams, but Kildrum adapted better as the home side tended to over hit their attempts with passes from the back.
The game was switched to Castlefin and they did have the best early chance when Matthew O’Rourke got the slightest touch to Gary McNulty’s low cross but his effort came back off the inside of the post and was cleared.
Neither side were creating clear-cut chances in the difficult conditions, Castlefin keeper Chris O’Donnell saved from Daniel Clarke in the 17th minute while at the other end Sean Friel took no chances with a JP Malley curler three minutes later.
Friel also had to deal with a Emmet White free-kick and the Kildrum defence had to deal with a series of Castlefin corners, and did so well.
In the 35th minute Daniel Clarke set up Kevin McHugh but O’Donnell dealt well with his drive from the edge of the box. Kildrum grabbed the lead in the 40th minute when McHugh’s corner found the unmarked Damian Crossan and he volleyed low past several defenders and keeper O’Donnell.
Castlefin Celtic
With the game in first-half injury time referee Dessie McLaughlin produced two red cards for Kevin McHugh and Ronan Tourish following an incident in the Castlefin penalty box.
McHugh had gone down after bursting into the box and Tourish appeared to take exception to that, perhaps suggesting the Kildrum man had dived.
As players from both teams became involved in what seems a minor enough situation at first the referee flashed red cards to both players which left the Kildrum management very unhappy as they claimed Mc Hugh had done nothing to merit the punishment he received.
The half-time whistle sounded immediately, but the debate on the rights and wrongs of the referee’s decisions continued through the break and beyond.
Kildrum got the perfect start to the second-half when following a foul on Jamie McKinney, William Lynch unleashed a brilliant unstoppable drive to the roof of Chris O Donnell’s net to make it 0-2 and put the League leaders in total command.
he home side kept trying and Johnny Doherty header Gary McNulty’s corner over the bar and later shot over after sub Ian Ward had won a far post header.
Both teams made a series of substitutions and after Kildrum full-back Brian Coll had to make a last ditch clearance from Barry Tourish’s dangerous cross in the 76th minute it was Kildrum sub Oran Higgins who wrapped up the points with a excellent finish after Damian Crossan’s lovely through ball had sent him clear and make it 0-3 to extend Kildrum’s unbeaten league run to ten games and an eight point lead at the top.
Castlefin Celtic: Chris O’Donnell, Gary McNulty Peter Bryson, Emmet White, Damian McElhinney, Johnny Doherty, Shane Gallagher (Corrie Lee Bogan), Ronan Tourish, JP Malley (Ian Ward), Matthew O’Rourke (Brian Dooher), Barry Tourish.
Kildrum Tigers: Sean Friel, Barry O’Donnell (Gareth Colhoun), Brian Coll, Johnny McGinty, Michael Lynch, Gary Crossan (Ethan Coll), Jamie McKinney, Damian Crossan, William Lynch (Kevin O’Donnell), Kevin McHugh, Daniel Clarke (Oran Higgins).
Referee: Dessie McLaughlin.
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