Brave Peake Villa's effort falls short against Killarney Celtic in FAI Junior Cup

FAI Junior Cup (5th Round)

Peake Villa 0 Killarney Celtic 1

Peake Villa had their first game back after the Christmas break - and after the loss of much-loved member Paul Twomey - with a very difficult FAI Junior Cup tie against one of the favourites for the competition, Killarney Celtic, on Sunday. The home side gave it their best shot but came up just short after a good game at the Tower Grounds in Thurles.

The game started at a frantic pace, as both teams tried to put their stamp on the tie, and when it finally settled down it turned into a very cagey affair, with neither side wanting to make a mistake and hand the advantage to the other.

The first game-changing incident came in the 24th minute when the home side lost their talismanic striker and captain, Pippy Carroll, after he picked up an injury, to be replaced by young Robbie Stapleton.

There was nothing between the sides coming to the break, but out of nowhere in the 39th minute a mistake in the home defence was capitalised on by Stephen McCarthy, who made no mistake and scored to put the visitors a goal up.

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This set the Thurles side back, but just on the half-time whistle they almost levelled the game when they were presented with a great chance after Jack Ryan Casey’s shot from the edge of the box seemed goal-bound, only for Shay O’Meara in the Killarney Celtic goal to get down and turn it around the post with a great save.

The second period was all Villa, as they went at their Kerry opponents from the off, and were on top so much that Willie Tierney in the Villa goal was no more than a spectator for the duration of the half.
Mick Ryan had a good chance just before the hour mark, but it was well saved.

They continued to press, but the Killarney Celtic defence was holding well until 14 minutes from time when Peake Villa got a corner and they hit the crossbar.

Just a minute later, from another corner, Alan Leahy came close from a header.

It looked like it wasn’t going to be Peake Villa’s day, and that was proved right as they pressed high up the pitch in the last ten minutes, but the elusive goal simply would not come, and they ended the game on the losing side for the first time all season.

The long lay-off after Christmas may have played a part in the performance, but they will have to get back on the horse quickly when they face another difficult cup game this weekend in Cork.