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Amazing night of football when we saw Celtic surrender the lead three times, but still progressed to final after penalty shoot out.
The LSL Major 1 team came up against a very competitive Wicklow Rovers who lie 3 points behind Celtic in the league table. On 8 minutes Niall Conran took possession in the middle before delivering a through ball for Joey Crampton to race in to lob it over the advancing keeper and into the net. 1-0.
Wicklow were in the mood and 8 minutes later, they went very close at the near post, and this was followed by a rasping shot over the bar that had Celtic keeper Paddy Dunne at full stretch. Within a minute, from a Shane Dunne clearance, Joey Crampton was almost through only to be denied by the excellent Rovers’ keeper Shane Doyle, and as the ball went to Jamie Traynor, his effort was again stopped by Doyle. Paddy Dunne was again called on to tip over a Rovers’ goal attempt soon after. There were scrambles at either end, with Sean McGarrity having a couple of headers off target and Cillian Daly not finding the target. Rovers drew level when they were awarded a penalty for a foul in the box that was converted by Michael Delaney for the visitors to bring the sides level.
The second half continued in the same vein as both sides strived for an advantage. Keith McDarby continued to break forward on the right creating chances. Niall Conran raced forward before crossing to Jamie Traynor but the ball went wide. A Cillian Daly corner on 55 minutes was met powerfully by Eoin Farrell at the far post and he made no mistake. Celtic maintained the pressure and McDarby was over with his shot as Kevin Keane raced into the box. It was however Wicklow who made their mark next when Mark O’Sullivan’s cross after a superb run down the left was poked home by Garret Murphy. The sides were level at the end of regulation time that sent the game into extra time.
With a minute of the restart, Kevin Keane raced in from the left and slotted his shot into the far corner. Celtic were themselves awarded a penalty but the conversion, though thumped into he bottom corner, was brilliantly saved by keeper Doyle. That’s the way it remained until the final seconds when an outrageous run down the left led to an equaliser, again with Garret Murphy applying the finish. Amazing stuff and the dreaded penalty shoot out was to be the decider.
Celtic were first to miss which gave the advantage to Wicklow. However they failed to capitalise on their advantage and penalty misses let Celtic back into the contest. It was left to Joey Crampton to score the winning penalty which he duly did and sent the elated Celtic into the final on 27th May against Kilbarrack Utd. Man of the match award was given to Daniel Germaine for his outstanding performance at the heart of the Celtic defence.
