Ten-man Castleisland hang on to scale Peake
John Houlihan, Killorglin and Stephen O'Mahony, Tralee Celtic in action in Mounthawk Park on Sunday Credit: PICTURE: FRANK O'CONNOR
The large crowd that turned out to see Castleisland play South Tipperary side Peake Villa FC got great value for their money on Sunday as it was an absorbing game that provided thrilling entertainment with the home side ending up 2-1 winners.
The game began in explosive fashion with Castleisland being awarded a penalty after just 30 seconds when an Aidan O'Callaghan shot was handled by a Peake defender. However, the usually reliable Stephen Bartlett was denied by a good save by the Peake Villa keeper.
Two minutes later Bartlett made amends when he brought off a tremendous save.
The sides went in scoreless at half time but 10 minutes into the second half the home side went ahead.
A one-two between Pa McCarthy and Shane Loughlin opened the Peake Villa defence and Loughlin buried the ball into the net to send the home following into a frenzy.
Castleisland now took control at midfield with Pa Hickey and Shane Loughlin particularly impressive while Aidan O'Callaghan was proving to be a handful for the visitors up front and this set the trend for a recipe for success.
However in the 70th minute Castleisland seemed to be in serious trouble when Joe O'Regan was sent off for a second yellow card offence.
However, the home side dug deep and it took two superb tackles from Donnacha Ryan to deny the visitors equalising while Mike McCarthy was outstanding at the heart of the Castleisland defence.
Then with 10 minutes to go Castleisland were rocked on their heels when John McGaley conceded a penalty and it was duly converted.
Now the stage was sent for a nail-biting conclusion to the game. However, the home side was not to be denied with a superb tackle by Paul Carmody releasing Pa Hickey who waltzed past three defenders but his bullet of a shot came off the post.
However, the wily old fox Pa O'Rourke, who had come on as a sub, reacted quickest and flashed the ball into the net from 12 yards for a glorious winner.
It was backs to the wall for the home side right up to the end but they held their composure admirably and deservedly won the game.
It was a great all round team performance by Castleisland and team manager Edmund Harnett will now be looking forward to the draw for the last 32.
