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Replay of the U12’s Cup Match Castleknock Celtic v Cabinteely -05/04/14
Following the gale force conditions for their first meeting, it was a pleasure to arrive at Cabinteely Park with the Sun almost shining. The calm conditions soon dissipated with the enthusiastic opening by the Castleknock squad when they set a strong pace in the early stages. Their passing skills had shown huge improvement since their last outing. Alannah Maxwell moved right around the pitch showing an outstanding level of fitness and was a force to be reckoned with. Sean McClean and Liam O Malley fought for every ball and sent a number of productive shots into the box area. Meanwhile, Donatus Nweke kept guard in front of the Castleknock goal and the midfield benefited from his strong shots back out the field. Jonathan McAdam worked tirelessly in the defence marking the key player from the Cabinteely side which prevented him from scoring. Castleknock had the majority of the possession in the first half and despite a relentless assault of shots upfront they were unable to breach a very able Cabinteely defence. The score at the half time whistle was nil all.
Both teams commenced the second half with renewed vigour. Alannah Maxwell claimed the superb opening goal of the match with the help of a well taken corner from Colm Ayres and this helped settle the Castleknock side. Shortly afterwards, Kelvin Oriwe intercepted the ball and appeared to dance his way into the box before finishing to make it 2-0.
Castleknock had practised corner shots in the preceding weeks and their hard work paid off when Colm Ayres forced a corner and sent a well directed ball to Alannah Maxwell who powered it confidently into the top right hand corner of the net to claim the third goal of the match.
Jordan Whelan showed no ill effects from his injury in the previous match and worked well in mid-field. Jack Murphy and Alex Curran applied pressure in the backs and ably protected their patch making it impossible for a tiring Cabinteely side to score. Ryan Fitzmaurice worked skilfully on the wing sending forward a number of confident shots into the box and in the closing stages one of these shots landed at Kelvin Oriwe’s feet and he didn’t delay in finding the net once again. Goalkeeper Saif Ijaz kept focused and calm under pressure making confident saves throughout, resulting in a final score of 4-0 for the Celts. It was a definitive and well deserved win for this hardworking Castleknock side making up for their disappointment at the premature ending to the previous nail-biting encounter. They now advance to the semi-final of the cup. The team celebrated their success by taking part in the Great Ireland Run on Sunday, displaying great levels of fitness and determination. Well done to all.
