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"Fast & Furious 8 with Sean Hat-Trick and Lethal Leigh grabbing the headlines”
On a cold and grey afternoon 3rd place Castleknock travelled to 13th placed Firhouse and on paper this would be forecasted as an away win. But over the past three years these teams have enjoyed epic battles and the form book was rarely right thus it was a confident but weary Celtic team that took to the pitch.
The instructions had been clear “Exert yourselves early and earn the right to play your football”. The whistle went and from the off it was clear that the Boys had listened. An early effort from Lloyd Turner set the tone and within 3 minutes Celtic were ahead with a lovely individual strike from 20 yards by Dylan Mc Donagh. 1-0. Moments later it was 2-0 with a Sean Blood strike following a good ball by Turner. Blood turned provider for a Nathan O’ Reilly to strike the ball home from 25 yards out before Leigh Reilly set up Blood to put Celtic out of reach and make it 4-0. Cruise control and the football was lovely but credit to Firhouse who stuck to their task and five minutes before half time made it 4-1 with a nice move down the left flank. Indeed Firhouse might have made it to 2-4 had it not been for a Jonathan Zambrano intervention. HT: 4-1.
At half time the Coaches,while acknowledging the good play, were far from happy with the team for losing their shape and noted that 8 Celtic players were ahead of the ball when Firhouse scored. The second half start mirrored the first with Celtic re-organised and attacking at will. With 5 minutes on the clock Blood was taken down in the box and the youngster duly dusted himself off and planted the ball home to complete a well deserved hat trick to make it 5-1.
Mid way through the half we had a special moment in more the ways than one. The mercurial Ciaran Collins took the ball inside and slid a 20 yard pass out left to Nathan who had made a great run to beat the off side. Nathan hit a low left footed cross taken first time by on running Leigh Reilly at the far post. A great team goal, dare I say Goal of the Season but what we can say is that this was Leigh Reilly’s 100th Goal at 11-a-side football over 3 seasons. Well done young man. Shortly after Collins went down the right wing to allow Tony Kamara finish and make it 7-1. But again credit to Firhouse who never stopped battling and got a deserved goal to make it 7-2 following a lovely break down the right wing that ended with a lovely finish in the bottom corner. With five minutes left Celtic made it eight thanks to the Old Boys aka Mark Hughes (with 300+ games) breaking through to release Reilly (on 100 goals 11-a-side and 199 since donning the Green and white hoops) inside the box who finished well. FT: 8-2
Another three points for Celtic following a good performance and some quality finishing. There were positives all round and congrats to Sean and Leigh for their personal achievements. Also well done to Firhouse, they are clearly going through a tough patch but they stuck to their task. Never moaning, always trying to play the right way and giving 100% . We all go through patches like this but with the spirit shown we’re sure they will be back to their best soon.
