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Celtic’s Under-15s Elite kicked off their campaign with a massive victory away to Belvedere. The lads completely dominated the first half, with their quick passing and pressure game. Vilius Labutis rattling the Belvo crossbar after only 40 seconds. Alan Elliott created a couple of chances before Captain Vilius won the ball outside the box bursting past two players and rounding the keeper and smacking the ball into the roof of the net to make it 1-0 to Celtic. action
On 23 minutes Belvedere had a corner which was cleared by Mikey McDonald. Owen Akpiama picked the loose ball up outside the box and ran 50 yards, playing a perfectly weighted pass into the overlapping Ciaran McGarry who slotted the ball into the bottom left corner.
The 2nd half started with Belvedere pressing high, preventing Celtic from getting on the ball. However it was Celtic who got on the scoresheet again when they won a free kick on the left wing 5 minutes into the half. Ciaran whipped in a beauty of a cross which was met by a bullet header from Vilius. Celtic 3-0 in front.
Belvedere pulled one back 13 minutes into the half after a misplaced pass from the Celtic defender was intercepted. 1-3.
It wasn't long before Celtic resumed control again. A quick counter attack on the left side saw Kevin Shalomi on the ball which he recycled to the impressive Daniel Byrne who played a first time pass to the advancing Adam Neto, his midfield partner, who got his feet set and smashed the ball from 25 yards to put Celtic 4-1 up.
With the new roll-on roll-off system in place this year, Belvedere made the most of it and soon pulled a goal back. With 3 minutes to go a sloppy back pass to the full back was intercepted by the Belvedere forward who calmly slotted home to make it 4-2.
This lifted the home team and 3 minutes into injury time Celtic conceded a free kick on the left which was swung into the box onto the head of the advancing player, who gave Belvedere a flattering 3-4 scoreline. Celtic only had time to take the tip-off before the referee blew the final whistle. Celtic had made a successful start to their Elite campaign.
Celtic history books do not record a previous victory over Belvedere, but this Celtic team has been showing great promise over recent years as they relentlessly moved up the divisions.
Manager Robbie Ryan said after the game, "We have been working really hard in training over the last few weeks and it showed today. I'm really pleased for the players, they worked their socks off today. We were very disciplined, well balanced and the concentration levels, particularly in the first half were excellent. We will learn from the mistakes in the final minutes, it will only help us get better. We have been putting huge demands on the players and they showed great character today, every single one of them. We knew this would be a big step up from Major football and we had been preparing for that. We will enjoy this moment, however this is one game from 6 and whatever comes after; now we must look to improve and get ourselves to the next level".
