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The Under 13 C1s travelled in force to Rathfarnham to meet Leicester Celtic on a bitingly cold Saturday morning. The away side started the better and dominated possession in the opening quarter through the tireless running and passing of Gentian Ramadami and Ryan Shields, but couldn't force the breakthrough they deserved, with Ryan Brady's effort from outside the box being tipped over the bar by the opposition keeper. Leicester Celtic grew into the game but couldn't get past a very solid back four, led by Sheto Raman at centre half, with Gareth Corpuz and Myles McCague covering well at corner back.
The first goal came early in the second half when a Leicester Celtic corner bobbled in off a Castleknock defender (who was subjected to the obligatory club penalty of 100 laps and 8,000 euro fine!)
It was Leicester's first shot on target. The C1s rallied - prompted by the tireless running of Carl Sampil, who grew into the game, along with Ahmed Shah, whose pace on the break worried the Leicester Celtic defence throughout. Continuous pressure brought a specular equaliser. Artyom Averyanov and Ryan Shields combined on the left to put Ryan Brady in possession on the goal line outside the penalty box. Brady beat 3 men before lashing the equaliser into the top right hand corner on 70 minutes.
Momentum was broken on 83 minutes when another corner was left uncleared in the box as Leicester prodded home once more. But showing great resilience, Celtic came back again. Probing down the right hand side, Kamil Suchomski and Matthew Coughlan engaged in clever passing which led to another chance for the Man Of The Match, Ryan Brady, who planted the ball high to the keeper's right to level things again.
The last word was left to Darius Horincar, the goalkeeper rushing off his line to stop a certain Leicester winner in the dying moments of the game. Overall it was a gritty display from the U-13C1s and with continued focus on defence in training, their fortunes should continue to rise with fighting displays such as this. They have now taken 4 out of 6 points in their last 2 games which augurs well for the future.
