Clonmel Celtic prove too good for Wilderness Rovers in FAI Junior Cup opener

Darren Sweeney, Clonmel Celtic, attempts to play the ball past Ciaran O’Loughlin, Wilderness Rovers, in Sunday’s FAI Junior Cup first round game at the Bypass. Picture: Michael Boland

placeholder image — Darren Sweeney, Clonmel Celtic, attempts to play the ball past Ciaran O’Loughlin, Wilderness Rovers, in Sunday’s FAI Junior Cup first round game at the Bypass. Picture: Michael Boland

FAI Junior Cup Round 1

Clonmel Celtic 4 – 0 Wilderness Rovers

Celtic advanced to Round 2 of the FAI Junior Cup with a relatively straightforward win against neighbours Wilderness Rovers on Sunday afternoon. The home side dominated proceedings from the start and though the visitors were very competitive, they carried very little threat throughout.

That said, despite having the majority of possession for long periods, Celtic struggled to make the breakthrough with Julian Kerton, Philip Drohan, Rory O’Dowd and Peter O’Dowd all coming close before they finally scored in the 28th minute.

Philip Drohan took advantage of a defensive lapse and he fired home from distance, with the goalkeeper stranded, much to the delight of his team mates.

Four minutes later they doubled the lead when Darren Sweeney fired home from the spot after Seanie Hawkins was tripped in the box.

Things got worse for the Wilderness three minutes before the break, when Cianan Kerton’s effort fell to Darren Sweeney inside the area and he made no mistake, leaving the home side three goals to the good at the break.

Both sides finished the first half with ten men when tempers flared a little just before the interval, but with the game now relatively safe, Celtic made a number of changes early in the second half.

The only real incident of note in the second period was a neat finish by Graham Kelly from a Paddy Ormond cross midway through the half, which meant that Celtic ran out very comfortable four goal winners in the end.