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‘Twas the morning after the night of Halloween with Ghosts and Ghouls returning to their crypts as the Castleknock U13’s arose from their slumber to make their way to play one of Ireland’s footballing Giants, Home Farm, in the Jimmy Flood Cup. So far this season the Cup draws have been unkind to the Celtic Boys but they had shown in the SFAI Cup that they are capable of holding their own against some of the “Big Boys”. Another rollercoaster lay ahead as the Celtic Boys made their way to Mobhi Road.
Castleknock enjoyed early possession but Home Farm looked the hungrier as they pressurised Celtic all over the park. The fireworks started when Celtic broke the deadlock with 10 minutes on the clock. Leigh Reilly won possession on the left and played a pass between two defenders to release Antonio Neto whose close control allowed him to cut in from the left near the game line before squaring the ball to Kian Ryan who blasted home with deadly accuracy. 1-0. The pattern of the game remained the same with the Farm working hard but it was still Celtic creating the better chances. With a quarter of the game gone Farm equalised but it was a soft goal from Celtic’s point of view. A hopeful ball from the Farm defence down the right wasn’t cleared allowing their winger to cross the ball which was allowed to run across the Celtic goal which gave the Home Farm striker a simple finish. This rocked Celtic and soon they were trailing. Again the Farm winger played in a ball from the right that was met by the on running midfielder to nod home unchallenged. 2-1.
Celtic switched to a 4-4-2 formation and forced two corners in quick succession. Kiano nearly had a second but his placed shot from 6 yards out grazed the post. With minutes remaining in the half Celtic got their reward. Good work down the left involving Mark Hughes, Andrei Enache and Neto saw the ball fall to Kiano whose shot was blocked. The resulting clearance fell to Reilly at the edge of the box. Under pressure the youngster weaved both ways before hitting an unstoppable shot into the left hand corner. This was a moment of magic in the season of Witches and Wizards with, in this case, Reilly the magician. In Halloween parlance this was a sparkler with a fire rocket mixed in. HT: 2-2
The second half saw Home Farm gain the upperhand with their powerful midfield duo dominating. Home Farm’s cause was helped by an indecisive Celtic defence and with chances being created Farm saw two long range efforts graze the top of the bar. To their credit Celtic re-organised with Aaron Rice moving into midfield. Parity was now being restored with the Celtic midfield working overtime and the defence refocused. With time running out and both teams looking resigned to extra time Celtic scored what proved to be a winner. Good build up play, again down the left, involving Neto and Ciaran Collins resulted in a Collins cross that cleared everyone except Enache whose powerfully struck volley took a massive deflection leaving the Farm keeper with no chance as the ball hit the back of the net. Cue wild celebrations but there was still 4 minutes left plus what proved to be extended injury time. Hughes, the Captain, shouted at his players to stay calm and focus and that’s what they did. With Home Farm needing a goal Celtic pressurised them at every opportunity with Collins leading by example as he closed down everything. Farm were being denied possession and it was Celtic who saw out the game comfortably. FT: 3-2.
The final whistle was met with huge cheers. Another win, another big team conquered but there was also relief. Home Farm did not deserve to lose but it says a lot about these Celts that they can perform below their own high levels and still grind out a win against such quality opposition. Celtic have played this Home Farm team 6 times in recent seasons and today was their first win so while for the Coaches a quality performance is the target they will, for once, allow the Boys to bask in glory despite a less than perfect performance. One aspect that will have pleased the Coaches was the manner in which they saw out the game as the Boys produced a controlled and quality display in the closing 7 minutes during which Farm were chasing shadows as Celtic passed their way around the pitch resulting in play being confined to the Farm half as Celtic forced two corners and a free kick in the dying minutes. We could not finish this report without congratulating Home Farm for their performance on the day and also for their graciousness in congratulating Celtic at the end of this Halloween firecracker.
It will be back to league business next week as Celtic refocus on their primary objective of earning promotion by playing good football. Today there was a little bit of a hangover from the Halloween madness but a little bit of magic plus a slice of luck saw these Castleknock wizards seal a memorable and exciting win.
