Denny Division 1B League Final ; Tralee Celtic 2-0 Atletico Ardfert

Denny Division 1B League Final
Sunday 01st May 2016
Tralee Celtic 2-0 Atletico Ardfert

Report and Pictures by Tommy Naughton. Images Copyright to KDL ,No usage without permission by any other website, Facebook or Twitter Pages.

For the third season n a row Tralee Celtic were crowned league champions after they defeated Atletico Ardfert on Sunday at Mounthawk Park in the Denny Division 1B League Final.

Both sides had early chances with Darren Delaney in the Atletico Ardfert goal denying Billy Stack and then Dermot Raggett in the Tralee Celtic goal denying Steven Horan . Fiachra Dunne picked out Aidan O’Sullivan with a cross from the left wing on the 15th minute mark but his shot was blocked from finding the corner of the net by Trevor Wallace at the expense of a corner. From the resulting corner by Fiachra Dunne the ball broke down into a crowded box where Steven O’Mahony reacted quickest to fire low towards the bottom corner . Somehow Darren Delaney managed to make a great save but the rebound broke into the path of O’Mahony again and this time he made no mistake to give Tralee Celtic the lead.

Things got worse for Athletico Ardfert minutes later when they were reduced to ten men when Dara O’Shea reacted to a tackle from Aidan O’Sullivan. This seemed to spur Atletico Ardfert forward and for the remainder of the half they had the better of the chances aided by a very strong breeze. Dermot Raggett had to be alert to punch clear from the head of Mike Moloney from a Mairtin Ferris cross. Ardfert’s best chance came just after the half hour mark when Maritin Ferris got in behind the Tralee Celtic defence to get on the end of a high diagonal pass from Mike Moloney but his side foot volley from close range missed the far corner of the goal going wide.

The second started much like the first with both sides creating chances with Aidan O’Sullivan and Mairtin Ferris both off target with snap shit attempts. On the hour mark a long ball into the danger area by Gary Hogan picked out Martin Ferris whose cushion header was into the path of Cian Hussey but again for Ardfert in missed the target.

Although being down to ten men Atletico Ardfert were still very much in the game as Tralee Celtic tried to soak up the pressure and looked to hit quickly on the counter attack. With the game entering the final quarter Martin Ferris and Daithi Griffin again went close for Atletico but again they missed the target after some good build up work. Fergal Moynihan nearly doubled Tralee Celtic’s lead after a great through ball from Fiachra Dunne but keeper Darren Delaney was out quickly to deny Moynihan with his feet.

With seven minutes remaining Tralee Celtic got their second goal to secure this league title . Fiachra Dunne beat the full back on the left wing and as he got to the end line he pulled the ball back into the path of the onrushing Fergal Moynihan who crashed the ball into the roof of the net giving the keeper no chance.

Tralee Celtic ; Dermot Raggett , Barry Leahy , Steven Moriarty, James O’Mahony, Steven O’Mahony, Fiachra Dunne, Jordan Murphy, Stephen O’Sullivan, Billy Stack, Aidan O’Sullivan, Fergal Moynihan. Subs; Daire Dunne for Aidan O’Sullivan (73 mins), Michael Prendeville (80 mins), Jamie Blake for Fergal Moynihan (87 mins) .

Atletico Ardfert ; Darren Delaney, Trevor Wallace, Dara O’Shea, Gary Hogan, Steven Power, Mike Moloney , Daithi Griffin, Cian Hussey, Brian Hill, Mairtin Ferris, Brian Hill, Steven Horan. Subs, Ciaran Griffin for Steven Horan (45 mins), JJ Prior for Brian Hill (64 mins), Killian Wolfe for Mairtin Ferris (77 mins) .

Officials;
Referee, Eddie O’Mahony .
Assistants , Adrian O’Shea & Kevin Cunningham .