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CEDAR can take heart from their first foray on the national stage but it’s more bad news for The Blues, writes Athletic’s Adam Moynihan

Our poor start to the season continued last Sunday as we fell to another disheartening defeat, this time losing 2-0 to Castleisland in the third round of the FAI Junior Cup.

Castleisland is a difficult place to get a result – their pitch is a disgrace - so when you play there your attitude has to be 100% right from the start. Ours wasn’t and we found ourselves 2-0 down inside ten minutes. It was a real uphill struggle from then on in.

We created plenty of decent chances, especially after the break, but we just couldn’t put the ball in the net. Our day, and probably our season so far, was summed up when Shane Lynch’s penalty was saved by Stephen Bartlett midway through the second period.

It’s very disappointing to be out of the FAI at such an early stage but I suppose the more worrying thing is our form generally. We have another tough league fixture against Tralee Dynamos away this weekend and, even at this early stage, we really can’t afford to be dropping any more points.

The fixtures aren’t getting any easier for us either. Next week we have Limerick kingpins Janesboro at home in the semi-final of the Munster Champions Trophy so we really need to get our act together.

Cedar Galaxy’s run in the FAI Junior Cup also came to an end last Sunday as they lost 4-2 to Carrig Celtic of the Desmond League. Carrig are a Premier Division outfit so they would have been strong favourites to overcome Cedar, who currently find themselves top of Kerry’s Division 1A (third tier).

John Foley and Joe Hurley scored for the hosts who will take heart from a couple of impressive performances in their first ever FAI Junior Cup adventure.

Meanwhile, Celtic’s third round clash with Moher Celtic, which was supposed to take place last Saturday, was postponed due to a bereavement on the Moher side. That game has been rescheduled for this Saturday night at 7pm.

Eoghan Donnellan’s team have made a blistering start to the campaign and will fancy their chances at home to Moher, who are third last in the Clare Premier Division at the moment.

In the Premier B, it’s top versus bottom as the winless Celtic Bs host high-flying Tralee Celtic tonight (Friday) at 7.30pm.

Both Athletic and Celtic’s under 17s are in FAI Cup action tomorrow (Saturday) at 2pm. Athletic are at home to Ennis Town while Celtic welcome Asdee Rovers to Celtic Park.

On Sunday, Mastergeeha will be looking to pick up their first points of the season when they play Dingle Bay Rovers in Kilbrean Park. Kick-off is at 2pm.

Down in Division 1A, Cedar Galaxy will hoping to continue their recent good form at home to QPR and in 1B, the Athletic Bs play Castlemaine United in Woodlawn. Both games are at 11.30am.
 

 
Above: The Killarney Athletic team who were defeated by Castleisland on Sunday.