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- Castleknock Celtic FC 4 – 2 St Marks FC
“Is it a Bird, is it a plane No it’s SUPER ESSE to the rescue as Celtic defeat St Marks”
For the first time in over 3 months the Celts finally got the chance to grace the “hallowed turf ”of Porterstown Park although “hallowed turf” is a bit of an exaggeration on a pitch that was looked more like reeds on the Amazon river. On what was a bitterly cold but dry morning the Celts were eager to start their new campaign with a performance and victory over visiting St Marks.
The game started brightly with both teams acclimatising to pitch conditions well. However as the half wore on it was St Marks who looked the more likely as they forced the Celtic No 1 Max “The Cat” Ostapchuk into two smart saves. With 15 minutes on the clock Marks took a deserved lead when their striker finished well following good build up play. Celtics cause was not helped when Ivan Hristov (stomach) and James Browne (chest) came off with injuries. Having said that bringing on quality like Esse Okirikpo and Ryan “Maccer” Mc Gregor always helps. Within minutes it was 1-1 when Esse fired home. There followed a brief period of Celtic dominance with Esse forcing the Marks keeper into a fine save and seconds later Luke Hughes shot just over. On the stroke of half time Celtic took the lead following a quick break – Andre Ungareanu released Esse whose right foot again did the damage. HT: 2-1
Despite the lead Coaches Hughes & Sherlock (aka Dumb & Dumber) were acutely aware that it was a fortuitous lead and reverted to a 3-3-1 formation for the second half. Unfortunately nothing could stop a rampant Marks outfit and within 5 minutes it was 2-2. More changes were made with James going into central defence allowing playmaker Ben Forde to move into centre mid. This was a tough period for Celtic as Marks pushed for the lead and it took defending a la the Alamo from Captain Ryan Sherlock, Maccer and James to preserve the lead. And when Marks did break through “The Cat” did what he does best with some wonderful stops. Having weathered the storm for most of the third quarter Marks seem to run out of ideas while Celtic’s confidence grew.
Celtic started to counter attack and nearly took the lead when a 30 yard cross field ball from Esse was met by the on running Caitlin Labont who did everything right in beating the defender only to see his shot brilliantly saved by the Marks keeper. Moments later Celtic seized their opportunity when following good work by Ben , Esse complete his hat-trick with a right footed strike from 10 yards out. 3-2. With a minute remaining Celtic secured the points when “Man of the Match” Esse scored his fourth with another strike from his Golden right foot. FT: 4-2.
First of all let us say that St Marks did not deserve to lose this game. They dominated possession and but for a battling Celtic rear guard action with Max “The Cat” leading the way the result may have been different. From a footballing point of view Celtic were not at their best with their midfield a little off colour although playing on a grass pitch for the first time in 3 months in poor conditions did not help. However on the positive side one could only admire their hard work and battling – characteristics that will serve them well going forward. And if you can win while playing poorly you’re not exactly a bad team. We mentioned “The Cat” but it always helps if you have a lethal marksman. Esse may not wear rimmed glasses, he may not have a cape but today he sure looked a lot like SUPERMAN and today his finishing was clinical as he dispatched all four goals with power and accuracy from his trusty right foot. Let’s hope next week the opposition don’t have any Kryptonite!!!
