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A great night of entertainment in Porterstown Park as Celtic took on Shankill FC in the semi final of the Cup. The standard of football was something to behold, with Shankill even when they were behind never deserted their principles of playing out from the back with their goalkeeper, Lui de la Re, always distributing the ball to his defenders, and if a better ball was to the midfielder, that is where the ball was played.
However it was Celtic who went in front after 10 minutes. A great run down the right flank by Eleron who crossed accurately to the predator Eoghan Dunne who shot home from close range. Soon after Celtic were at it again with Eleron crossing to Shazard, and his effort squirted into the path of Eoghan who prodded the ball home past the excellent Lui. Patrick Langan was always a threat with his mazey runs, while Fionn McDermott made many surging runs. Patrick got his reward when he rifled his shot past Lui in the Shankill goal. 3-0 half time
Celtic continued to press in the second half, but it was amazing that Shankill did not make inroads into the Celtic lead as they went close to scoring on numerous occasions. It was in fact Celtic who stretched their lead when Harry Delaney broke forward and he picked up the ball on the right hand side before burying his shot that gave Lui no chance in the Shankill goal. Celtic did not breach the visiting defence again, and Jake McCoy played a big role throughout the game at the back. Shankill did get a small reward for all their attacking when Locky Dingle set up Fionn Grubesch to score for the visitors. Bernie Fitzpatrick, Shankill manager, was full of praise for his team who gave everything to get through to the final, but they lost to a fine Celtic team who now look forward to a Cup Final in June. more action
