Tipperary Soccer: Celtic's best not good enough as Carroll heads Peake Villa winner

Clonmel Credit Union Premier League 

Clonmel Celtic 0 Peake Villa 1

Clonmel Celtic produced one of their best displays of the season but unfortunately had nothing to show for their efforts, as a Stephen Carroll header 16 minutes from time separated the sides after a keenly-contested game at Celtic Park on Sunday.
The champions almost made the perfect start to the game, with Fabian Kerton getting down well to push away a Michael Ryan effort in the second minute.

But Celtic quickly settled into a very effective counter attacking game. This resulted in Villa not getting the time to create any meaningful openings, which frustrated them for long periods of the game. When the home side did get a chance to break, Sean Hawkins in particular looked dangerous and he brought out a couple of very good saves from Willie Tierney in the Villa goal.

Celtic still looked comfortable containing Villa, though Michael Ryan and Dale Loughnane came close for the visitors just before the break.

After a huge effort in the first half, it was obvious that bodies began to tire but the hosts were still more than holding their own. As Celtic tired, Villa had more of the ball in their opponents’ half and were finding more openings. Stephen Carroll glanced a header wide from a corner just before the hour mark.

It was a fine defensive display from Celtic but they will be disappointed with the goal they conceded 16 minutes from time, which proved to be the winner. It came when Stephen Carroll was given too much room to head a Michael Quinlan cross to the net to undo the home side’s good work up to that point.

A tired Clonmel Celtic tried to rally but it was more in desperation than producing anything constructive, as Peake Villa held on without too much trouble for a hard-fought win.