- OUR PARTNERS
Congratulations to Bob Fagan's U15C Team on winning the League tonight,,. Needing a win in their last game to secure the title by 1 point they had a great 3:0 victory away to Raheny . Well done all. As soon as we have full report, we will post it up.
Castleknock Celtic’s DDSL Under-15A remain on course for league honours after their 5-0 win away to Greystones Utd in County Wicklow. This win puts them 2 points clear at the top of the league table with two games remaining.
The goals came from Luke Danagher who yet again hit a brace and continues his rich vein of form. Vlad Skrypka, Conor O'Leary and Noma Erediauwa completed the scoring. There were sterling performances from the whole of the squad which sealed a vital victory in the chase for yet another Celtic league title. The next game on the run-in is in Porterstown against their title rivals Mullingar AFC who lost ground when they went down to Finglas Celtic who are proving a tough nut to crack this season for any title contenders.
Late Late Show as Castleknock U-13A snatch draw
On the first real day of summer Castleknock travelled Southside to meet their Celtic neighbours, Leicester, with whom over the past two seasons and over 4 games there has been nothing between the teams. Today would be another one of those days.
Castleknock started like Champions and following early pressure took the lead within 5 minutes. A move involving Mark Hughes and Leigh Reilly ended with Antonio Neto’s low right foot drive from 18 yards into the bottom left hand corner. 0-1 Castleknock were threatening all the time with Ciaran “Merlin” Collins weaving his magic on the left wing. However Leicester had no intention in playing second fiddle and battled tirelessly to knock Castleknock out of their stride. As the half wore on it was Leicester who gained the upper hand with their No 10 bossing the midfield area. With 20 minutes on the clock Leicester equalised. A hanging freekick was not cleared and the ball was forced home from 2 yards by their talented No. 7. HT: 1-1.
The Castleknock Coaches complimented the lads efforts on the ball but demanded more urgency and work rate off the ball. Despite the half time talk it was much the same in the second half with Leicester working tirelessly and restricting Castleknock. Despite this Castleknock had their chances with Leigh Reilly seeing his header, from an Aaron Rice cross bring a wonderful save from the Leicester No.1 . Minutes later Andrei Enache thought he had given Castleknock the lead when heading home Hughes’s free kick only for the goal to be disallowed for offside. Castleknock finally took the lead when Hughes again did well finding Rice who delivered a wonderful ball to Reilly to head home. 1-2. But Leicester were far from done as they stuck to their task and following good work equalised with 15 minutes left. 2-2. Castleknock were rocked and minutes later indecision at the back cost them as Leicester went 3-2 up and in fairness deservedly so.
There may have been 12 minutes left but it would take a herculean effort if Castleknock were to secure a result against a Leicester side playing with great confidence. And that’s what we got as Castleknock remained patient and never varied from their passing game. Cathal Flynn, who was having a great game, went to the right wing and increased the attacking options. Hughes nearly got the equaliser when he cut in from the right at the half way line beating four players but while his shot had the keeper beaten it unfortunately sailed inches over the bar. We were in injury time and there would be one last chance – Antonio won the ball and played it square to Mark. Mark played a diagonal ball out wide right where Kiano had made a great run. Kiano crossed the ball to Aaron whose shot nestled in the left bottom corner. 3-3. Final whistle. Phew!!!
As with every game against Leicester it was a tight game. Credit to Leicester they competed all over the pitch and showed that they will challenge for the title next year. Indeed leading 3-2 in the final minute they will feel unlucky not to have held on for a famous victory. From Castleknock’s perspective while not competing well enough off the ball they did show when in possession their quality and as with all the great teams they never gave up, never gave in and in the end got the draw their attacking play deserved.
It may not have been the performance everyone wanted but the lads showed the character and quality of Champions with their LATE LATE SHOW. Over the season the Boys record reads P14 W10 D3 L1 - a record which speaks for itself.
A final well done and thank you to Aaron, Alex, Alex, Andre, Antonio, Cathal, Ciaran, Dylan, Franc, Kian, Mark, Matthew, Leigh and of course “The Cat” Tommy not only for all the thrills and excitement you gave us this season but also for your efforts every week at training and in matches. You are the Champions and deservedly so.
