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Celbridge came to Porterstown expecting to complete the double over Celtic who had it tough earlier in the year in the away fixture. The visitors duly went in front early on to take a 1-0 lead. Celtic kept their focus and were not going to give up without a fight. Aidan Thom fed Rad Ameriani who weaved his way into the box before shooting wide of the keeper into the net. 1-1 and we had a real contest unfolding. Celtic were battling for every ball. Theo Hennessy was dealing well with shots from Celbridge, and he was feeding the ball to Ronan Wells so he could build from the back. Calin Doherty was back to his best, battling for possession and clearing his lines. Andrei was putting in a monumental performance as he switched from defence to attack like a pendulum. Dominic Odujebe was battling away in the middle with Aaron O'Reilly who himself was chasing back to try and prevent Celbridge building attacks. Mohamed was putting in the tackles, working hard in the middle of the park. Sean Hosford was again challenging for every ball that came his way and supporting the Celtic attacks. Ayann Tausseef went very close to getting on the scoresheet with his effort. James Whooley was looking dangerous and he was just over the bar with his shot on goal.
The second half saw Celtic get their noses in front. Theo Hennessy had been replaced in goal by James Whooley. Theo was now causing mayhem in the Celbridge ranks. Every time he got the ball it spelt danger for the visitors. He constantly skinned the Celbridge defence, and it was on one such surge forward, he took the ball from the midfield, beat his opponent, racing through before unleashing a vicious shot that the keeper had no chance of stopping. 2-1 to Celtic.
Celtic were flying at this stage. Sean and Theo combined but the strike that would have put the home side out of sight was just wide. Ronan Wells went within a whisker of getting his side's third goal, but it drifted just wide. The spectators were loving the contest and the 3 points were looking a likelihood for Celtic. James was in command in goal, with Calin marshalling the defence with Andrei. Aidan was reintroduced and he tried to set up more chances for the home team which was important as Celbridge were looking very dangerous. The visitors were pressing hard for an equaliser, and they got their reward eventually when their striker slotted home at the far post. Celtic survived some scarey moments, but a draw was a fair result, and very welcome after a tough match away the previous week to second placed Park Celtic. It was a hard decision to choose a man of the match when all the lads had done so well, but there seemed to be unanimity among the players that Theo had done so well in goal before taking over the centre forward duties and smashing his side into the lead that we thought would be the winner. goal action
The team is benefitting from the extra night's training. They will meet on Tuesday at 7pm with Lee and Daire in charge, while Thursday, Lisa the Director of Football will take the session.
