Castle Villa Start Strong

Robinstown 0-4 Castle Villa

Castle Villa travelled to Robinstown for their opening NEFL Division 4 game. The poor weather had halted their start to the 2024 league campaign so their players were raring to get the game underway.

From minute one Castle Villa pressed high on the Robinstown defence through Dean Murtagh and Gareth Reilly. It wasn’t all one way traffic however as Robinstown got in behind the Villa defence and forced goalkeeper Jonathan Francis into a smart save. Castle Villa settled themselves and worked the ball nicely through the midfield of James Brady and Richie McKeever. In the 25th minute, Dean Murtagh got in behind the Robinstown defence on the left wing and played it back for Gareth Reilly, who smashed it in with his right foot. 1-0 to Villa. Gareth didn’t have long to wait before he grabbed a second goal for himself. The 30th minute saw a penalty awarded for handball in the box. Up stepped Gareth and he finished calmly into the bottom left corner. 2-0 to Villa. Villa finished out the half strong with defenders Niall Campbell, Adam Tallon Luke Mulholland and Steven Mooney, along with the help of no.6 Mark White, mopping up any danger that came their way. 2-0 to Villa at the break.

The second half began and Scott Lynch entered the fray in place of Mikie Mongey on the left wing. Scott nearly got on the scoresheet straight away, only for a shot to drag just wide of the post. In the 66th minute, Scott played a lovely ball over the Robinstown defence to Gareth Reilly. Having scored twice already, Reilly had no problem finding the back of the net for his hat-trick. 3-0 to Villa. After this goal, three Villa substitutions were made. Jack Kearney, James Kirk and Eric Molloy replaced Mark White, James Brady and Steven Mooney- following great performances from all three. Robinstown made a couple of changes of their own and started to find some joy down the wings, however they couldn’t put the ball in the net. Nathan Byrne replaced Dean Murtagh in the no.9 position, following a brilliant shift up top by Murtagh. In the 83rd minute, Eric Molloy threaded a pass through to Scott Lynch on the left wing. Scott’s cross into the box curled its way into the top right corner, 4-0 to Villa!

The scoring finished at 4-0, with Castle Villa picking up a valuable 3 points to begin their league campaign with a bang.

Castle Villa Team:

Jonathan Francis, Niall Campbell, Adam Tallon, Luke Mulholland, Steven Mooney, Mark White, Richie McKeever, James Brady, Gareth Reilly, Dean Murtagh, Mikie Mongey

Subs:

Scott Lynch (for Mongey 51’)

James Kirk (for Brady 67’)

Jack Kearney (for Mooney 67’)

Eric Molloy (for White 67’)

Nathan Byrne (for Murtagh 76’)

Brian Lynch

Chris Burke