Dundalk beat Castlebar Celtic 8-0 in the Irish Cup Round of 16 on Friday. The match ended after eighty-one minutes at the home ground. It was a comprehensive result that followed a difficult run for the visitors.
C. Dillon opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the eighth minute. B. Burns added a second three minutes later. By then the pattern was clear — Dundalk controlled everything. Castlebar could not match the tempo or find any foothold.
L. Mulligan scored in the forty-second minute and then again in the sixty-first. L. Gaxha and A. M. Keogh found the net in between. And here's the thing about a scoreline like this — it does not happen by accident. The hosts camped in the final third and made Castlebar pay for every mistake.
The statistics tell the full story. Dundalk held 71 per cent possession and registered twenty-two shots on target. Castlebar managed zero shots on target and had no corners. The visitors threw in seventeen times but could not create anything meaningful.
The result ends Castlebar's cup campaign after just one round. Dundalk advance to the quarter-finals with momentum building. To be fair, the draw brought them together early, but the quality difference showed through.