Marino AFC 1 Castleknock Celtic 2

Despite missing some key players who were away on a school trip in sunny Bundoran, the 12 remaining members of the U17A squad fought and battled hard for 90 minutes to stretch their unbeaten run to 8 leagues matches and remain at the top of this very competitive division.

In a game that was always going to be physical, but fair, Castleknock & Marino both had scoring opportunities in the first half.  However an excellent defensive performance by the Castleknock back four superbly marshalled by Captain and Man of the Match David Hickey ensured that Marino’s opportunities were kept to a minimum.  At the other end of the pitch, Darren Doyle was causing all sorts of problems for the Marino defenders.

Half time and the game remained scoreless.  Within 10 minutes of the restart, the aforementioned Doyle was picked up a pass from deep and flicked the ball past the Marino goalkeeper.  For the following 20 minutes, Castleknock were in control of play until a spurious free kick awarded to the home team in the middle of the pitch resulted, in a long ball into the Castleknock penalty, which was headed home.

Whilst a draw mightn’t have been a bad result today, the Castleknock players didn’t think so and took the fight to Marino.  With just 5 minutes remaining, that man Doyle was on hand to blast home a cross into the back of the Marino net. The goal lead to wild but deserved celebrations which resulted in Doyle receiving  yellow card for his enthusiasm !!!!!

Although there were only 5 minutes left when Castleknock took the lead, the referee managed to conjure up a further 5 minutes injury time, from where, nobody knows.

This was the hardest earned in a long run of victories for this U17A squad and although only 2 are named in this report, all 12 were excellent.  Their position at the top of the U17A table is down to hard work on the training ground and some very inventive drills from Coach Keith Healy, who just like Darren Doyle celebrated the win great enthusiasm!!!