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True Grit from Celtic too much for Ballyouster
The Castleknock Coaches got a frosty awakening at Porterstown this morning and it had nothing to do with the bitterly cold weather. It was the news that inform duo of Antonio Neto and Ciaran Collins were ruled out with illness joining Aaron Rice on the sidelines. On top of this Andrei Enache arrived from his sick bed,Tommy Bowe was nursing a groin strain and Mark Hughes is still not 100% fit. It literally was a case of the walking wounded. The visitors, Ballyouster, had started the season poorly but arrived in good form with a recent win over league leaders under their belt. This would be a severe test for Celtic and the game had Banana skin written all over it.
Despite having the bare eleven Celtic were up for the game and were aware that they needed to put “scores on the doors” as tiredness would be a factor late on. From the off there was no sign of injury or illness as Celtic passed the ball with pace and purpose. Andrei Enache and Mark Hughes were bossing midfield. Most of the best play came from the left where the impressive Alex San Emeterio and Hughes were releasing the always available and always alert Dylan Mc Donagh who was outstanding in a dominant first half. With a quarter of the game gone Celtic broke the deadlock. Hughes sprayed the ball out left to Mc Donagh who grove down the line before unselfishly playing the ball into Leigh Reilly who supplied his customary quality finish. 1-0. Celtic were dominant and Alex Doyle was unlucky not to make it two when his left foot shot just shaved the right hand post following good work in the build up from Enache and Mc Donagh. A second did come when a quality Hughes corner was finished in style by the prolific Reilly. 2-0.
In the second half Celtic started as they finished the first and it was nearly three when Kian Ryan flew down the right wing and squared the ball where the on running Doyle just failed to connect. With 15 minutes left Celtic made sure of the points. San Emeterio played a lovely ball into the box from the left. Under pressure from Reilly the keeper fluffed his clearance and the ball fell to unmarked Ryan who made a difficult chance look easy with a classy finish into the roof of the net. 3-0 but tiredness was creeping in and Ballyouster to their credit never looked to give up. During this period the Ballyouster No 4, 6 and 9 looked the real deal as they sought to punish any slackness in the Celtic defence. But Celtic were committed to keeping a clean sheet and were thankful to a last ditch well timed tackle by Franc Ajunomah to do so. FT: 3-0
Celtic were relieved to hear the final whistle and the Boys deserve great credit for this performance of True Grit that John Wayne himself would have been proud of. The quality of play, particularly in the first half, was very good while their overall effort was commendable considering all the injuries and illness that has befallen the squad. There were plenty of positives today not least the goal scoring form of “Batman & Robin” aka R&R with Leigh and Kiano who have now scored 12 goals between them in the past 4 games but we must give a special mention to two of our “sick note” players Dylan and Andrei who put in fantastic shifts today. Well done lads. Keep it going.
