Denny Division 2B 2013/14

Kerry District league
Sunday March 30th 2014
Tralee Celtic 2-2 Valley Wanderers

By Tommy Naughton

The Tralee derby on Sunday ended all square as Tralee Celtic and Valley Wanderers played out a tight two all draw.

Both these sides going into the game were sitting in third and fourth position and still have ambitions of reaching the league final and gaining promotion.

After an explosive first half the second half never lived up to the expectation after what had preceded it. Played in glorious sunshine a draw at the end was probably a fair result and both sides keep their promotion dreams alive.

Within four minutes of the kick off Valley were awardee a penalty when Vinny Murphy made a driving run into the box, keeper Eoghan O’Leary came out but mistimed his attempt to gather the ball and took down Murphy for a certain penalty that referee Stuart Templeman had no hesitation in awarding.

Conor O’Callaghan made no mistake to give Valley an early lead. This lead only lasted about three minutes after a good ball through to Jamie Blake from Fergal Moynihan saw Blake shoot past Mike Szczodwroski who could only get one hand to the ball which wasn’t enough to stop it finding the net.

Fergal Moynihan came close to grabbing the lead for Celtic after Daire Dunne pulled the ball back to edge of the box but Moynihan shot over.

Just before the half hour mark Peter O’Carroll made good ground down the right wing before sending a deep cross into the box where Jason McCoy out jumped O’Leary but saw his header come back of the bar towards Dan Barrett who headed over under pressure from Derek O’Connor. O’Leary was injured in the collusion with McCoy and had to be replaced in goal where Gary Moriarty who started on the right wing took up the position between the sticks.

Moments later Celtic took the lead. Daire Dunne crossed for Jamie Blake who touched the ball back to Fergal Moynihan. Moynihan hit a first time volley from just outside the penalty area which left the keeper stranded as the ball found the back of the net.

Wanderers came straight back and within minutes it was all level again. Vinny Murphy was brought down in the box for a second penalty and once again Conor O’Callaghan made no mistake and the teams were tied at half time.

The second half saw both sides try hard but neither created any real clear chances. Fergal Moynihan again tried from long range with a volley but this time was well over. A Peter O’Carroll free was parried out by Gary Moriarty towards Dan Barrett but his header was wide of the target.

Both teams seemd to tire quickly in the heat and neither side could make the most of their possession in the final third. The final chance of the game fell to Aidan O’Sullivan following a low cross by Moynihan. O Sullivan found himself six yards from goal as he hit a first time shot which somehow Szczodwroski saved from point blank range.

Minutes later the final whistle went and both sides will feel happy not to have left the nearest opponents in the promotion race gain an advantage against them as we head into the final quarter of the season.

Tralee Celtic: Eoghan o Leary , Barry Leahy , Simon Moore, Derek o Connor, James o Mahoney, Daire Dunne, Gary Moriarty , Stephen o Sullivan , Aidan o Sullivan , Fergal Moynihan , Jamie Blake . Sub, Jordan Murphy for Eoghan O Leary .

Valley Wanderers: Mike Szczodwroski , Peter o Carroll, Joey Flynn, Sean Ward, Paul Dennehy, Conor o Callaghan , Seun Osinubi, Jason McCoy, Vinny Murphy, Dylan Burke, Dan Barrett . Sub, Graham o Sullivan for Peter o Carroll .

Referee; Stuart Templeman .