Newry Celtic crowned Premier League Champions
Newry Celtic were crowned Premier League Champions on Tuesday evening. A 2-2 draw against Bessbrook United at Artie Green Park was enough for the Hoops to clinch their first Premier League title since 2001. Fittingly, on the Club’s Official Facebook page, Celtic dedicated the win to their former player Seamus Treanor who sadly passed away during the week.
Celtic’s Ryan Downey takes on Bessbrook’s Lee Anderson.
Bessbrook got off to the perfect start inside the first minute when Captain Gareth Hughes broke through on goal and finished with aplomb to give his side an early advantage.
Celtic restored parity three minutes later though. Gavin McLaughlin was on hand to stab the ball over the line following a goal mouth scramble.
The Celts then almost took the lead midway through the first half. Nicky Fusco thundered a 30 yard free kick towards goal but the ball smashed off the crossbar and rebounded to safety.
The remainder of the half lacked the incident of these opening exchanges as both defences came out on top. The Celtic central defensive partnership of Steven Moan and Conor Larkin held firm while the veteran pairing of Terence Feehan and Lee Anderson used all their experience to marshall the Bessbrook defence.
Celtic goalscorer Gavin McLaughlin celebrates his all important second goal with skipper Kevin McParland.
The second half was slow to take shape. Bessbrook had the majority of possession but lacked conviction in the final third. The profligate ‘Brook paid the price when Celtic took the lead in a rare opportunity ten minutes from time.
Adrian Larkin’s long throw eluded the outstretched arms of the Bessbrook ‘keeper Peter Murphy and the ball fell to McLaughlin, who bundled the ball over the line for his second goal of the game to settle the Celtic nerves.
Their joy was was short lived though as two minutes from time, Bessbrook’s Bryan Ferguson ensured a tense finish to the game when his header caught the Celtic ‘keeper off his line, to level affairs once more.
‘Brook pressed forward in the final minutes of the game but the young Celtic side withstood the pressure and held out to clinch the title.
The triumphant Newry Celtic squad and management celebrate their league title clinching performance.
The elated Celtic players just after the final whistle!
Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=16911
Posted by Sean McKevitt
on Jun 13 2012. Filed under Sport.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
