- OUR PARTNERS
AUL PremB: Premier B title was in the sights of Castleknock and Howth Celtic in their league clash in Porterstown Park. Castleknock went 2 down in the first half. Karl Carpenter with the first on 25 minutes, and Gareth Murphy doubled their advantage on the half hour. But Castleknock are a resilient squad and have shown many times this season to have that comebackability quality. They fought back again today to draw level within 7 minutes after the half time break, with goals from Sylviu Aghinita and Billy Thompson.
Joey Crampton was immense in the middle of the park and we are still wondering how he wasn't made man of the match. But Howth were back in front on 65 minutes. Then back came Castleknock when John Byrne popped up on 70 minutes to put them level. Then with 12 minutes remaining, Billy Thompson broke through the visitors defence and was heading for goal before being hauled down in the box. Up stepped the brave Sylviu Aghinita for the spot kick. He had to put thoughts of his last spot kick in midweek out of his mind, which he did soundly as he smashed his penalty into the bottom left corner. Sylviu's second looked decisive. It seemed like Castleknock had taken a big step toward the league title, but their bubble was quickly burst as within 2 minutes, a Matic-like strike by Sean Kenny flew into the top right hand corner. There were still chances for the home side to snatch a late winner when Joey passed to Sylviu but his shot screwed wide of the near post. There was still time for a decisive blow. John Byrne rose to head what looked would be the winner, but his header was wide of the target. And so it ended 4-4, both sides having served up a feast of entertainment in a titanic struggle.
The amazing thing is that the 2 sides face each other again on Tuesday in the Quarter Final of the Nivea Cup at the same venue, and the hope is that they will serve up another mouth-watering tie.
