Killowen stun Bessbrook to reach showpiece final

Killowen Celtic booked a place in their first ever Fr.Davies Cup final on Saturday and in the process denied Bessbrook the chance to make a clean sweep of all the domestic honours. Killowen were full value for their win too, coming back from a goal down at half time to stun Bessbrook with a dominant second half performance.

Bessbrook – who were missing several first team regulars, looked on course to reach the final fifteen minutes in. The referee awarded them a penalty kick when Killowen ‘keeper Seamus Morgan was adjudged to have made contact with the onrushing Bessbrook player. Mark Patton held his nerve and dispatched his spot kick low to the ‘keepers right.

This Killowen defender clears his lines.

At the back Mickey McCrink was marshalling the Killowen defence superbly and his key interceptions when faced with one on one situations with the Bessbrook forward line of Markey and Patton ensured Killowen went in at half time with only a one goal deficit.

Killowen continued the second half as they did the first, playing some impressive free flowing attacking football, but five minutes into the half it was a moment of brilliance from Ryan Cousins that got them back on level terms. Cousins picked up the ball from 25 yards out before thundering his shot past Murphy and into the back of the net.

Ryan Cousins thunders his shot past Bessbrook 'keeper Peter Murphy to level the game.

Killowen then took the lead on the hour mark and on the balance of play in the second half it was little more than their dominance deserved. The ball was floated into the box from the right and Martin Trainor rose highest and steered his header past Murphy to give the ‘Celts the lead for the first time in the game.

The Bessbrook players looked tired and it was evident their heavy fixture schedule was finally taking its toll on them. In the final half hour of the game Killowen’s tightly knit defence restricted Bessbrook to a couple of half chances and the ‘Celts held out to book their spot in the final against Killeavy United. This will take place on Saturday 16th June at Frank Curran Park.

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Posted by Sean McKevitt on Jun 5 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