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Dumb & Dumber aka Deegan & Davy the heroes as Celtic come good
One thing for sure is that you could never call this Castleknock U 18 team boring. A bit like the weather they change every minute and yesterday was no different as like the weather they mixed the good with the bad.
Celtic started slowly but it wasn’t long before they treated the crowd to some quality pass and move football. Midfield was being bossed – Captain Gavin Keane and Luke Mulcahy providing the graft with Wayne Deegan supplying the finesse. Most of the strong play was coming down the right with Daniel Hughes, who is playing his best football of late, and Cian Galvin linking well in attack.
Celtic were in complete control, even if it remained scoreless, but allowed themselves to be distracted when, after some over zealous tackles on both sides, the game became a bit edgy and ragged. All of a sudden Celtic lost their shape and Malahide Utd took advantage to score a breakaway goal when their No 10 ran onto a well played defence splitting pass from midfield before coolly placing the ball into the net. 0-1. Malahide sought to capitalise furthe with Sean Costello holding the defensive line and Alex Regan been in no mood to concede a second the Celts worked their way through this spell. Slowly but surely Celtic re-exerted their authority and a goal duly came courtesy of Galvins left foot from the edge of the box. 1-1. With the equaliser secured Celtic’s pace of pass and move increased and shortly after Liam O’ Neill provided the finish to a move involving Deegan and the up to now quiet James Davy. 2-1. With minutes to go to half time Deegan again was involved as he set up the awoken Davy who finished well. HT: 3-1.
3-1 up and now playing with a strong breeze one would have assumed that Celtic would dominate but Malahide had other ideas. They came out revitalised and Celtic were put on the back foot. With 15 minutes of the half gone Malahide pressure told with a deserved if a little bit fortuitous goal. A poor corner clearance saw the unmarked midfielder shoot from outside of the box with the ball taking a wicked deflection past the stranded Regan. Malahide could sense vulnerability particularly at the heart of a Celtic defence (without Costello who was in midfield) looking ragged as they struggled with the pace of the Malahide No 10. Thankfully Regan was alert to everything and once again showed how important a good keeper is to a team.
Defending a slender one goal lead is difficult so the Coaches re-introduced Costello to the back four with Deegan and Mulcahy re set as the midfield duo. The moves worked as Celtic re-asserted themselves and with 15 minutes left secured the points when Davy scored a wonderful goal. Deegan was again involved and his diagonal ball out left found Davy in space. Still Davy had much to do and showed us the brilliance that we all know he has – past one, two, three players, a look up and a curled ball past the keeper from 22 yards out. A quality goal by a quality player. 4-2. Davy was on fire and clearly had a hat trick when he went on another mazy only to be literally kicked up in the air by the Malahide player. Thankfully nothing was broken and the youngster’s subsequent free kick had the keeper beaten but also the far post. FT: 4-2
Three points but again Celtic made hard work of it. Mixing the brilliant with the bad. The team is far from the finished article but the potential is clear to see. Regan and Keane were again leaders while Deegan was like the conductor of an orchestra pulling all the strings with his quality of passing. As for James Davy – once he’s on his game he’s unplayable. However fitness and work rate off the ball remain issues for the team. Overall a solid start to the season and there is more to come from this motley crew.
