Irish Cup Round Three
Belfast Celtic 0-3 Bangor
It was a tough afternoon for Belfast Celtic as they faced a strong Bangor side in a rearranged Irish Cup fixture.
It didn’t take long before the away side struck gold as Ben Arthurs flicked on the long ball to wideman Scott McArthur who thumped his effort above the 'keeper into the roof of the net in the sixth minute of time to make it 1-0.
Relentless pressure from Bangor forced multiple saves from Paul McGlaughlin who tipped two efforts wide from the Big Target man Arthurs.
In the 10th minute, left-midfielder Michael Halliday popped an effort from the edge of the D and McLaughlin once again kept the score down by pushing the strike wide.
It was one-way traffic and eventually, the Belfast Celtic defence broke.
Right winger Seanan Foster broke past Anthony McGonnell and drilled a cross into the box, the ball bounced off Stephen Beatty’s trailing leg and doubled the away side;s lead.
Midfielder Emmet Templeton saw himself booked for a strange attempt to catch a ball that was flying in the air.
Bangor sliced through the Celtic defence and goalscorer McArthur looked set for a brace and his effort grazed the post.
After a series of near misses with headers from both striker Arthurs and David Hume almost making it three.
In the 43rd minute it was Bangor Captain Gareth Beattie who found himself at the back post. Michael Halliday's initial effort was saved by the Belfast Celtic shot-stopper.
The wing-back was composed to jink inside and thunder it home for 3-0 after the ball rebounded to his feet.
McLlaughlin really showed his worth in keeping the scoreline to a respectable three as the gulf in quality between the sides at the break was clear.
The second half saw the home side start well with Denver Taggart’s half-effort whistling over the bar.
Although it was very much again Bangor Pressure with Ben Arthurs attempting one from 20 yards only to be saved once again by McGlaughlin who was proving to be one of the only positives in the Belfast Celtic side.
Bangor seemed to take their foot off the gas, but credit to the hoops who improved as the game drew to a finish.
Chances fell to the feet of Darren Murray on two occasions, his first effort was a well-struck volley which worried James Taylor into palming it away for a corner.
Lee O’Brien had his header cleared off the line from the resulting corner.
Murray again had an effort blocked by Bangor centre-half John Boyle shutting the home side out once again.
Ben Arthurs thought he had finally got his goal, but McGlaughlin was there once again to stop Bangor from extending their lead.
A dominant first-half display from Bangor and a professional second-half hands Belfast Celtic their exit at this season’s Irish Cup.
BELFAST CELTIC: P McGlaughlin, S Hawkins, A McGonnell, C Donnelly, S Tully, S Beatty, S McAlorum, E Templeton ©, D Murray. B Glackin, D Taggart
Subs: E Brennan, D Snodden, S O’Halloran, K O’Neill, S McKernan, L O’Brien
BANGOR: J Taylor, G Beattie ©, J Boyle, R Arthur, D O’Kane, B Arthurs, S McArthur, K Devine, D Hume, M Halliday, S Foster
Subs: M Orbinson, J Hughes, A Ferguson, C Sullivan, A Harris, T Mathieson, R Craig
Scorers: S McArthur 6, OG 23, G Beattie 43
