Castleisland's Cup run ends at hands of controversial decisions
Castleisland's Pa McCarthy's shot in the opening minutes grazed the wrong side of the Killmallock post in spite of the presence of defender Conor Moloney during the FAI Junior Cup game in Killmallock on Sunday afternoon Credit: PICTURE: JOHN REIDY
Wednesday March 10 2010
CASTLEISLAND'S great run in the FAI Junior Cup came to an end in Limerick on Sunday when they went down 1-0 to Kilmallock in a very controversial game.
Castleisland felt very aggrieved at some of the decisions of the officials, including what they thought was a legitimate goal disallowed, being denied a stone-wall penalty kick, and then having two players red carded.
A big contingent of Castleisland supporters made the journey to Kilmallock for the game and gave the team great vocal support on the sideline.
This was a game that Castleisland dominated territorially and but for poor finishing and controversial decisions by the officials could have won easily.
Stan Devane, Pa Hickey and Pa McCarthy missed golden opportunities to score while Castleisland also found it hard to beat the Kilmallock goalkeeper who made some great saves.
The game was decided with a 16th minute goal by Benny Burke from a free kick. Other than this the Limerick side created very few scoring chances.
The game was wide open at half time but Castleisland's prospects took a severe setback four minutes into the second half when Pa McCarthy was sent off for an alleged dive in the box when the Castleisland team and supporters thought it was a stone wall penalty kick.
However, the numerical disadvantage did not bother Castleisland as they continued to dominate the game.
Then in the 75th minute they were sure they had equalised when Aidan O'Callaghan found the net with a header but to the astonishment of the Castleisland side the referee disallowed the goal for an infringement.
Tim O'Donoghue had a great chance to equalise in the fourth minute of injury time but he blazed over the top from eight yards with the goals at his mercy. Shortly afterwards he got his marching orders after a flare up with an opponent.
Castleisland found the defeat a hard pill to swallow in the circumstances but they did Kerry soccer proud with their great run in the national competition and it should stand to them on the domestic soccer front where they are presently joint leaders in Premier A.
