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Castleknock keep promotion hopes alive with deserving win against Joeys
After an April to forget where the hitherto unbeaten Celtic failed to register a win and lost their unbeaten record to Firhouse Carmel it was a battle weary Castleknock that travelled to Joeys with perhaps more hope than expectation. Spirits were lifted with the return of Leigh Reilly and Matthew Elliott who spent most of April on crutches and it was nearly a full strength squad that the Coaches had to pick from.
Celtic started well and won a corner in the first minute. Mark Hughes’s corner was met by Leigh Reilly but unfortunately the youngsters header went straight into the Joeys keepers arms. While Celtic enjoyed the early possession Joeys warmed to their task and thanks to some quality balls into the box had the Castleknock defence in trouble. In truth it was Joeys who came closest to breaking the deadlock. Despite this Celtic kept working the ball and got their reward with 3 minutes of the half left. Reilly ran onto a through ball only to be denied by brave goal keeping. The ball squirted right and Kian Ryan was the quickest to react and finished well. 1-0. However the lead was short lived. On the stroke of half time Joeys won a free kick. From 35 yards their midfielder hit a lovely floated shot that dropped in just beyond Celtic keeper Tommy Bowe. HT: 1-1.
The plan would remain the same for the second half – “ Keep working, keep passing and everything else will take care of itself”. Castleknock searched for a goal but Joeys were in no mood to play second fiddle. As the half wore on it became clear that the next goal would decide the game. Thankfully it went Celtic’s way. Hughes won the ball in midfield and strode forward beating two players in the process before spraying the ball out wide to the on running Aaron Rice. Aaron hit an exquisite cross where Leigh duly supplied a strikers finish with his head. 2-1 and with it the confidence that would allow Celtic dominate. Mark and Antonio Neto saw chances just edge past the post but then we were treated to magic from “Merlin” (aka Ciaran Collins) who tormented the Joeys defence. Twice he was denied by two excellent saves. Then he went on a run beating 6 (yes 6 players) but his shot did not match his electric feet. Elsewhere, were it not for the quality of the Joeys keeper, Leigh would have had a hat trick.
With 10 minutes to go the points were secured when Mark’s corner was met with a quality header from Alex Doyle. Alex was enjoying his time up front. A beautiful piece of skill allowed him create chances for Leigh and Merlin before with minutes to go his clever ball to Merlin allowed the nippy winger to cut in and square the ball into the box that was turned into the net by the unfortunate Joeys defender. FT: 4 – 1.
Celtic deservedly won the points but they needed to be in top form to do so. Yes they scored 4 and yes only fine goalkeeping denied them more but it should be noted that the performance of Cathal Flynn, Alex San Emeterio and Franc Ajunomah in defence had a big bearing on this result. They defended resolutely and always sought to make a telling pass. Getting the third goal of the game to go 2-1 was decisive and it was only then that Celtic broke free. An extremely entertaining game and both teams should be proud of their efforts. For sure the Celtic Coaches and players are glad to have put April behind them and if the lads can continue to play like they did tonight then the results will take care of themselves.
With Dylan Mc Donagh working hard to get back to fitness Celtic can look forward to two mouth watering games in the coming week against Leicester Celtic and Firhouse Carmel. If we get the spectacle we got tonight then everyone will go home happy.
