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Willows crack under pressure from Castleknock in wintery conditions
Sunday morning’s kick-off was on an exceptionally cold, wet and bitter morning that saw heavy rain beating down that made the clothes on your back stick to your skin making it difficult to keep warm. Even the referee was soaked as he inspected the teams and sought a hat from one of the lads to keep the rain off his head. While the match went ahead during atrocious conditions it made for an exciting and great game of football for players and spectators alike.
Castleknock started with James Keady in goal replacing the regular keeper Sam Murray who was away to Manchester United (as a spectator only, but no doubt in the future he might be a professional goalkeeper). Celtic's defence comprised Adam Quinlan and Harrison D’Arcy [Captain for this game] with Sean McGarry playing a sweeping role. Midfield contained the regular duo of Jack O’Neill and Sean Quinlan with Ethan Flynn plying his trade up front. The substitutes at the start were Ben Dunne and Conor Boyle who would come on in the first half to make a huge impact from the bench.
The game started with Castleknock having the tip-off and Sean McGarry striking a beautiful ball from inside his own half startling the Willows’ goalkeeper and just shading the outside of the post for the ball to go wide. Defence and midfield combined well in opening exchanges to create not one but several chances before Ethan Flynn had a ball chipped into the penalty box and in difficult wet conditions was unable to strike it home, but the Willows’ keeper had to make a fine save to keep it 0 - 0.
Celtic keeper James Keady kept a clean sheet in the first half with some brave challenges for the ball in his own penalty area. After the first five minutes or so, Willows started to gain momentum and attack down the left with some threatening shots from their number 6. A few minutes later Sean Quinlan seized on a ball in midfield as a result of a kick out from James Keady, quickly passing to Jack O’Neill on the right-hand side assisted with some great forward running by Ethan Flynn to pull the defender away from goal allowing Jack O’Neill to rifle home a shot from near the line at a very acute angle to put Castleknock a goal ahead with a superb shot.
Willows didn’t need much encouragement and shortly after the re-start their number 6 plagued the Celtic defence with some great running and dribbling and shot a similar ball across the Celtic goal to level the sides 1- 1. Not even Peter “the Cat” Bonetti would have saved it. (Peter who? Steady on Paddy, some of us are only young fellas!) With only 7 minutes gone, it was now 1 -1 and within a few minutes Willows produced a similar move on the other side of the pitch for James Keady to save, but the wet and cold conditions were affecting Celtic and sluggish play resulted in another opportunity which was seized upon by Willows letting them score a second in quick succession.
Conor Boyle and Ben Dunne were called into play with Ben tasked with man marking the Willows’ playmaker and goal scorer (No 6). Conor Boyle was pushed forward and Castleknock started to wrestle control of the game back from Willows before the referee’s whistle blew for half-time.
After a "much spirited" team talk Castleknock took to the pitch with greater confidence and it wasn’t long before Jack O’Neill gave the Celtic team something to shout about by hitting the equaliser. 2-2.
Celtic's midfield fought for every ball and the defence marked the opposition superbly denying them any further opportunities. Celtic won a majority of the tackles in midfield to help the visitors keep Willows in their own half and eliminate the threat of another goal. Such was the work done by Ben Dunne that Willows playmaker was substituted in the second half with no more shots or attempts coming from the opposition.
Conor Boyle, Sean Quinlan, Jack O’Neill, Sean McGarry and Harrison D’Arcy made some great interceptions to deny Willows any further goal opportunities and James Keady grew in confidence in the Castleknock penalty box with some clever defence work and goal kicking to the wings.
Willows started to show signs of cracking in the cold wet conditions and it wasn’t long before Castleknock scored, first with some deft footwork by Ethan Flynn and then another by Jack O’Neill (a hat trick) to bring the score to 4 -2. Ethan Flynn scored again to make it 5 – 2 before being replaced up front by Adam Quinlan who terrorised the Willows defence with some great running and dogged attacking play. On another day Sean McGarry could have had a brace with his shots fired at the opposition goal from inside our half, but it wasn’t to be today.
Such is the ability of this team that all of the players have no difficulty in playing attacking football up front or putting in a stalwart defence in the backs when called upon to do so. It might have been a cold wet day that saw heavy rain, Arctic winds and snow falling that chilled to the bones during Sunday’s match, but by full time everyone had a great warm feeling inside and a big smile after coming back from a 1 – 2 deficit at half-time to end the game as winners by 5 – 2.
A great win and a fantastic result for the Under 11D Sunday team who continue to rise to big games and the challenges that face them.
