Celtic Bang’ three past Newtown Rangers
A CLINICAL display by Bangor Celtic saw them skip past Newtown Rangers with a 3-1 victory in the Charlie Cahill Cup First Round on Sunday in Farrell Park.
A goal and an assist from Ronan Byrne put Bangor on their way but a late goal from Newtown’s John Houlihan brought the game back into contention.
Bangor Celtic marched on in the Charlie Cahill Cup
The home side had their share of possession and it came down to their larger margin for error as some sloppy play while in possession led to some fine Celtic counter attacking moves.
Winger Ronan Byrne proved too hot to handle on the front foot and assisted forward Oisín McMenamin for their first goal when he fizzed a ball into the box leaving the striker only having to tap in at the far post.
Before too long Bangor had doubled their lead with an absolutely stunning Keith Mahoney half volley from the edge of the box to the roof of the net following a saved Fionn Tierney strike.
Despite leaking a couple of goals in the opening half, Newtown centre-half Brian Malee put on a sold display but it was the midfield where the problems occurred as they continued to get caught in possession.
After the break, captain Lee Murtagh had a chance to cut the deficit only for his headed effort from six-yards to get tipped over the bar by Bangor netminder Nathan Murphy, who was in flying form.
As the game grew old, the tricky midfield-dynamo Luke Synott came into his own disrupting Newtown play and working hard to get a third goal for his side.
McMenamin dropped deep into the midfield to collect a loose ball before playing a perfectly-weighted ball through Rangers backline, cutting them wide open and leaving Byrne to round the keeper and slot into an open net.
Rangers finally put the missing pieces of their game plan back in place and received the fruits of their labour with a brilliant team goal that ended with midfielder John Houlihan finding the bottom left corner to make it 3-1.
Although it was too little too late as the damage had already been done and the travelling side progressed in the next round of the Cahill Cup.
