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- U9 0range: Castleknock Celtic V Tolka Rovers
“ Castleknock & Tolka serve up early morning treat”
After a lack lustre performance against St Mochtas last week Castleknock were anxious to get back playing as they welcomed Tolka Rovers to Porterstown Park on a bitterly cold and wet Saturday morning. It was therefore credit to both teams as they put on a display that will have those watching will have been happy that they braved the wintry conditions to watch.
- Pitch 1 – Three evenly match games saw Celtic win the first, a drawn second and Tolka deservedly winning the last. Celtics passing play always had Tolka in trouble and while Cillian Mooney and Luke Hughes were supplying the goals Evan Mc Grath and Pedro Moreno were providing the quick passes to release the dynamic duo. Tolka played their part with their strong running no nonsense display contrasting with Celtic’s subtle passing. All the games were tight and overall honours were shared. Great performances all round but special mention to Alvaro “The Cat” Moreno for his goalkeeping performance and Cillian Mooney who looks to be getting back to his brilliant best.
- Pitch 2 – Provided equally enthralling games although the results were the reverse of pitch 1 with Tolka edging the first, a drawn second and a rampant Celtic in the third. These games were played at a pace – there were goals a plenty, saves, crunching tackles and defence splitting passes. Essay Okirikpo was on fire up front with the lefties Enda Finn and Gerard Crawley mixing grit with sublime touches. Elsewhere Ryan Sherlock looked back to form and Lucas Girigan and Jonah Courtney put in tireless shifts to make it a supreme team effort.
All in all a great display by both teams who received a deserved applause and cheer from both sets of supporters. Well done all.
- DDSL U12B Ballymun United 0 – 9 Castleknock Celtic FC
“A Castleknock victory but Ballymun take the plaudits”
It’s hard to believe that it has been just short of 4 months since Castleknock last played a league fixture. Poor weather conditions combined with a good run in the 11-a-side SFAI Cup meant the Celts last played 9-a-side and on grass on Nov 30th 2013. Ballymun may have been struggling of late but they had managed to play a number of games in recent times and Castleknock approached the game cautiously as they arrived at Popintree Park to a soft pitch in near Antartic conditions minus keeper Tomas Bowe who was out for a couple of weeks with a cracked bone in his foot.
However the Celtic travelling support need not have worried as the young Celts got back in the groove early on with a fine passing display that never gave Ballymun a chance to settle. It was a case of goals a plenty as Celtic hit nine courtesy of Kian Ryan (3) , Ciaran Collins (2), Mark Hughes(2), Matthew Elliott(1) and the impressive Leigh Reilly (1). There were some excellent finishes with Ryan’s neat flick to complete his hat-trick and Hughes’s excellent run from the halfway line beating four players before placing the ball with power into the right hand corner the pick of the bunch.
Nothing should be read into the scoreline as it was clear from the off that Ballymun are not in the correct division. Clearly they are outclassed in this division but their willingness to turn up each week to fulfil all their fixtures is admirable. On the day, as they have done all season, the full squad of Ballymun players gave a 100% commitment and they, their Coach, Club and parents deserve the highest respect and credit. Well done Ballymun.
As for Celtic it was a case of job done and there will be a satisfaction that they have now completed their first league game in 2014 successfully. Check out the FAI Summer Soccer Camp to be held in July, which will again have 2 free tickets to a forthcoming international at the Aviva Stadium for those who book early (watch website from 1st April).
