Daly strike seals victory for Celtic over Willow

An 18th minute strike from Connaught Celtic"s Kevin Daly was enough to see off the challenge of Willow Park at their impressive all weather facility at Kilmacuagh Avenue last Saturday morning. Chances were initially hard to come by for both sides with Connaught Celtic passing the ball confidently in the opening stages. It wasn"t until the 10th minute that the visitors managed to manufacture the game"s first goal opportunity when Kevin Daly played Symon Zaucha through. But Diarmuid Martin was equal to the task in the Willow goal, easily saving a weak shot. And Connaught Celtic were nearly made to pay for their wastefulness as immediately down the other end Nathan Fahy found himself with only the "keeper to beat. He looked certain to score but just as he was about to pull the trigger, Connaught Celtic"s Conor Fitzmaurice managed to nick the ball away from him with a superb last-ditch tackle. On 12 minutes Kevin Daly was played through on goal by Symon Zaucha. Daly"s effort was expertly blocked by Diarmuid Martin. The ball fell to Corey McCarthy but his shooting angle was quickly closed down by the Willow defence. Three minutes later, Andrew Tone cleverly beat his man in along the end-line. He had a man to pass to in the middle for what would have been a certain goal but instead opted to go for the glory himself. His shot hit the side-netting and Willow had escaped again. Conor Fitzmaurice had Celtic"s last opportunity of the first period a minute later but the score remained nil-nil. Celtic"s dominance had to pay off and three minutes into the second period of play, it finally did. Kevin Daly picked up the ball on the right edge of the Willow penalty area and his shot, though lacking in power, still proved too hot to handle for goalkeeper Diarmuid Martin as the ball sneaked in at the near post. One-nil to the visitors. But two minutes later, Willow nearly hit back when Brendan Martin skilfully skipped around two Celtic challenges and found himself through on goal. But just like Andrew Tone did for Connaught Celtic, Martin ignored the help arriving in the box and instead rifled a shot off the near post and wide. On 21 minutes Willow "keeper Martin had to be on top form once again to thwart Simon Zaucha"s effort after the Celtic player had been played through on goal. Kevin Daly and Jordan Cassidy then both went close as the visitors piled on the pressure in search of that elusive second goal. But it was Adam Goss who came the closest when he rounded the Willow "keeper only to see his effort miraculously cleared off the line at the last second. At the end of the second period, Connaught Celtic still held their slender 1-0 lead but that should have been increased four minutes into the final period. A cross into the penalty area found goalscorer Daly free in front of goal. But his placed effort from point-blank range somehow managed to roll wide of the post and Willow breathed another sigh of relief. The remainder of the game saw Willow push hard for that equalising goal but finding only stout resistance from the Connaught Celtic defence. James Carey twice went close with long range efforts but saw his strikes saved both times. It wasn"t to be Willow"s day as Connaught Celtic held out for the 1-0 win. WILLOW PARK: Diarmuid Martin, Justin Coughlan, Anthony Lynch, Tom Cunniffe, Brendan Martin, Cian O"Brien, Conor Macken, Mihailo Cvetkovic, James Carey, Nathan Fahy. CONNAUGHT CELTIC: Alhazzar Aremu, Jordan Cassidy, Symon Zaucha, Conor Fitzmaurice, Andrew Tone, Kevin Daly, Corey McCarthy, Adam Goss.