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“Season opener sees spoils shared in Celtic Derby”
The Castleknock U18’s made their annual pilgrimage to Swords to play their Celtic rivals in the season opener. Castleknock were hoping to learn from last years frailties of inconsistency and poor discipline which cost them dear in League and Cup.
The Boys started like a team that had learned its lessons. Playing quality football they passed the ball around freely and if anything enjoyed too much possession leading to some over elaboration. Still chances came and only smart goalkeeping by the Swords Number 1 on two occasions stopped Castleknock taking a deserved lead. The pressure continued and Narcis Catre struck a wonderful shot that beat the keeper and hit the bar. Swords were becoming frustrated and it showed when their No 16 , having conceded a free, needlessly kicked out at Omar Emara who did well to keep his cool. Castleknock kept pressing and a goal duly came. Daniel Hughes placed a floated free kick onto the head of Sean Costello whose deft touch left the keeper stranded and beaten. BUT NO the Referee called an offside that only he could see. Still Castleknock stuck to their task and a James Davy strike struck the cross bar just before half time. HT: 0-0.
Totally dominant and only cruel luck was denying Castleknock which as John Giles might tell you often leads to the opposition sneaking a goal. And so it happened – less than 10 minutes into the second half a lovely through ball by the Swords midfielder saw the No 16 make a great run. While keeper Alex Regan did really well to make the save the ever alert Swords striker did well to score from the palmed save 1-0. Undaunted Castleknock continued to press but again were caught with a Swords attack when Emara needlessly fouled the Swords No 16 who dusted himself off to take the penalty. Regan got his hands to it but not enough to prevent the ball crossing the line. 2-0. Swords were ecstatic and the lift it gave them was clear to see. Despite Castleknock pressing hard the quality of tackling by Swords, in particular their two centre backs, could only be admired.
As the half wore on Castleknock became ragged and Swords looked more than capable of preserving a two goal cushion. With a quarter of the game remaining team Captain, Gavin Keane, who could not start due to illness, entered the fray in an attempt to settle his team . His no fuss hard tackling was allowed the inspirational Luke Mulcahy and the hard working Rob Laffey more freedom to break forward. The hard work paid off when with 8 minutes left Laffey ran onto a wonderful through ball and his first time shot gave the Swords keeper no chance. Castleknock were BACK and they threw everything at an equaliser but Swords stood up. Two more wonderful tackles and another fine save by the Swords keeper preserved the lead. With 4 minutes left Laffey broke forward and released Davy on the wing. Beating his man he whipped a low drive which the Swords keeper, who had enjoyed a great afternoon, could only parry into the net. 2-2.
Castleknock searched for a winner but time ran out. FT: 2-2. Depending on you looked at it could be seen as a point gained given Castleknock were 2 down with 10 minutes to play but in another way it could be seen as two lost given their first half dominance. All in all a draw was probably a fair result in what was another fine tussle with our Celtic neighbours who were always competitive and after such a resilient performance did not deserve to lose the game.
And so a solid, if unspectacular start, there were many positives for Castleknock but also plenty for the Coaches to work on for next week. Special mention to Luke Mulcahy who played with an injured foot not that you would have known such was the quality of his performance.
