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It was a warm September morning as Celtic welcomed the mighty St Josephs Boys to Porterstown for their first home fixture of the season. There was recent history between these teams as Joeys pipped Celtic to the title last year by a single point with their only defeat, in arguably their worst performance of the season, coming against Joeys who had deservedly inflicted a 4-1 defeat on the Celts. But this is a new season and there was a good crowd in anticipation of an intriguing encounter between 2 teams with contrasting styles – Joeys direct approach against Celtics pass and move philosophy.
The pre-match team talk was simple – “These are the games you train for so go out there and show everyone what you can do”. And that’s exactly what Celtic did as the Boys put on a display that showed they deserve to be in this division. From the off Celtic were tuned in – every ball competed for and when in possession always looking for the quick release.
As the half wore on Celtic’s dominance grew with Mark Hughes, Antonio Neto and Andrei Enache dominating midfield allowing the likes of Ciaran Collins get forward on a repeated basis. The full backs Matthew Elliott and Dylan Mc Donagh, playing more as wing backs, showed they were up for this game as they launched forward time and time again. Despite dominating Celtic were limited to few scoring chances thanks to some strong defending by Joeys.
However the constant probing of Leigh Reilly and Kian Ryan in attack finally forced a breakthrough when Neto fed the prolific Reilly who finished with ease to give Celtic a deserved lead. 1-0. With the lead Celtic went in search of a second with Hughes, Reilly, Ryan, Neto and Enache all having shots but credit to Joeys as they kept defending stoutly and showed they could be a threat on the break as they forced keeper, Tomas Bowe, into action late in the half. HT: 1-0
At half time all one could ask for was more of the same. And that’s what the Coaches got. More tackles, more passes and more chances created as they outthought, outfought and outplayed a strong Joey’s team. However, despite dominating Celtic could not increase their lead and of course there was always a risk that Joeys could get back into the game but today this was never going to happen such was the sound defending by centre backs Alex San Emeterio and Aaron Rice, whose reading of the game and performances were top drawer.
On a warm day and with tiredness setting in Celtic made three changes. These changes highlighted the strength in depth in this team with the introductions of Cathal Flynn, Franc Ajunomah and Alex Doyle were seamless as the team continued to dominate.
With 5 minutes remaining the points were secured and the goal summed up the team performance. Reilly, McDonagh and Hughes all pressurised the opposition in quick succession forcing a poor clearance and the rest was pure class. Neto strode forward purposely onto the ball and looked up before striking the ball powerfully with a high looping shot that beat the diving keeper into the roof of the net – unstoppable. Hughes nearly scored what would have been a deserved goal for his impressive performance when forcing an excellent save from the Joeys keeper in the last minute. FT: 2-0.
Celtic may have teams from higher division teams before but never have they dominated a team of Joey’s quality making this arguably their greatest team performance. Three points yes but it was the manner of the performance that will have pleased the coaches most. The players gave their all and got their just reward. In a fast paced game Castleknock continued to play their own game from the first ball to the last. These Young Celts are only finding their feet at this level and there are many tough matches ahead. There will be good days and bad days on the pitch to come but if the Boys keep playing like this they will have a good season ahead to look forward to it. Well done lads – Proud of you all.
