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Football at it’s best as Castleknock & Raheny entertain the Crowd
Who says 0-0 games are boring? Forget Japan, forget Sky Sports Super Saturdays Raheny was the place to be this weekend as two young teams played out a thrilling 0-0 draw. Celtic travelled Northside without a win this season but their improving performances meant that they were not be in awe of Raheny, one of the favourites for the league, who last season had shown themselves to be one of the NDSL’s top Premier sides.
On a fresh September morning it was Raheny who started the better. It wasn’t that Celtic were sluggish – they were not - it was just that Raheny were good, very good – good feet, good movement and attacking with pace. For this phase the Celtic defence were magnificent as Daniel Moore, Jaden Adekolu and Arnass Birbalas ensured stand-in keeper Phelim Scott was rarely troubled. As the half wore on Celtic grew in confidence and we started to see what this team is capable of. Every ball was being contested -50/50’s were being won. Keane Tiernan was a live wire while Sam Dunne was a man on a mission out right. Chances started coming thick and fast. Harry Reilly shot over, then Abdullah Boujerdha forced a fine save from the Raheny No 1. Abdullah then hit the bar with a fierce shot before another shot was inches over with the keeper beaten. Not to be outdone Keane saw his effort hit the cross bar before James Brown’s shot was well saved by the keeper. Credit here to the Raheny defence as they ensure the game remained scoreless at half-time. HT: 0-0
The second half saw the early exchanges shared but as the half wore on it was the home side starting to take control. The game was opening up - Phelim was forced into making two smart saves while at the other end Harry broke free rounding his marker before the home keeper did really well forcing Harry wide where his shot from an acute angle just hit the side netting. As we entered the last quarter and with Celtic playing into a now freshening wind it was Raheny who pushed for the winner. Raheny won a succession of free kicks and the quality balls in were troubling the Celts. Raheny shot just over before Phelim made great diving save to his right. Minutes later Phelim made another save palming the ball onto the cross bar with the Raheny striker heading just over from the re-bound. With minutes remaining Celtic looked out on their feet but ironically it was Celtic who had the best chance late on. A break out right saw the ball crossed to the unmarked Catalin La Bont whose early well taken strike flew just over the bar with the keeper stranded. FT:0-0.
What a game. No doubt Celtic were out on their legs at the end as Raheny pushed and pushed but over the 70 minutes and on chances created it was a deserved draw. This game had it all – fierce tackles, great moves, loads of shots, loads of saves and three shots rattling the cross bar. There were “’oohs and aahs” everywhere as both teams gave their all. From Castleknocks perspective YES they remain without a win and fitness levels are an issue but they improve every week. There are positives all over the place - defensive giant, Arnass is arguably one of the best around (think Virgyl Van Dijk and you get the idea), Sam is a Gladiator and along with the likes of Ryan ,Harry and JB chase lost causes. Players like Jaden and Abdullah will play anywhere you want and of course to-day we have to give a special mention to lethal striker Phelim who for the past 3 weeks has swapped his scoring boots for saving gloves and his display to-day was so good that even our No 1, Scott, would have been in awe. There is still a lot of work to be done but to-day we saw the lads deliver their best performance of the season so far as they continue to improve. The 14 lads on duty to-day showed the character every team needs to achieve. As the great Rocky Balboa said “A CHAMPION WAS A ONCE A CONTENDER WHO REFUSED TO GIVE UP”. Well done lads, keep moving forward. See you at training on Monday.
