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Turbo Charged display seals Castleknock away victory.
Sacred Heart 1-4 Castleknock Celtic.
Dublin 15 is full of posters looking for support (Donnll E Trump is even there). They are all wannabe leaders. The good news is you need look no further. Next Friday vote for Castleknock Celtic Under 12A1 (if you can find them on the paper). Why, because everyone of them is a leader. We were away to Sacred Heart who were unbeaten at home this season. The sat nav was doing a good job until the Co-Pilot started going on about bus routes, "trust me, follow the 65". But the driver knew better and so did his sat nav, just as well as otherwise we would have ended up in Blessington with the 65. So, after a slight diversion Sat Nav did the job and up the side of the Dublin Mountains we were. Nice pitch, ref in situ and ready for a game. Dylan Coyne was captain and led his men into battle. Dawide Beirnat in goal, Dylan Thompson, Ethan O’Reilly, Jake Rice and Bradley Creighton in defence, Dylan Coyne and Adam Geraghty in midfield, Cian DaCosta, Evan Ryan and Dylan Osbourne the front three.
Sacred Heart started the better, all their play through their right midfielder, a bag of tricks. Bradley using all his own tricks to stem the attacks. Dawide was back to his Glue Gloves best, everything stuck. But Castleknock Celtic stuck at it and soon realised that a ball into the space for Evan to run onto was the clever option. And it worked, some fine moments of hold up play from Evan, working the channels and playing in the midfielders. Corner time to Castleknock and Dylan O with a peach of a ball, Bradley finally drilling home after a couple of blocked attempts. 1-0 and cue a wee bit of upset on one particular sideline. Happy days for Celtic and the confidence grew. 1-0 at half time and a well earned break. The team talk was simple, play the ball wide and support in attack and in defence. Not quite as impressive as last weeks where Coach A.G. gave an impassioned speech, asking the players to enter a parallel universe, to focus on not playing the game, but being the game, be the ball, be the result… quite the speech which warrants its place in Folklore. (p.s. it worked last week).
So, game on and Dylan C and Evan R were linking up to great effect, Evan holding up play, lay off and spin turn, Dylan C playing the through ball. Sacred Heart were rattled. When they did break forward Ethan O’R was dominating everything thrown at the defence. The whole team upped it a level and it showed. Jake R with a thunderbolt, but a great save denying him. Dylan O with another peach of a corner, O.G. but ref would not allow. Cian DaC and Dylan T got the upper hand wide right, the intensity in Cian’s play and tough as teak tackling from Dylan T a joy to watch. Bradley C was warmed up and started to play with great composure down the left channel, Jake R and Evan again giving support. Adam G was controlling the play with nice passing and ordering his players about. Dylan O always offering an outlet wide on the pitch. With the midfield now dominating it was no surprise that Castleknock scored again. A free out wide left following good play and Evan R with a curler and nothing the defenders could do. 2-0 and wild scenes on one sideline.
To their credit Sacred Heart came back and scored a peach of a goal, a glorious header into the far corner, nothing Glue Gloves could do. Just before that, they had hit the post, but keeper had it covered. And before that they were surely going to score but only for Bradley with a goal line clearance, hooking the ball off the line as he was sliding toward the goal, majestic. So 8 minutes left and back to 2-1, the home team on the up. But this Castleknock Team are like those fancy new cars that have a "sports option" and ZOOM, they were flying about the pitch. Tackle, pressure, possession, wide pass, shoot. It was relentless. However one wylie old fox was heard telling Bradley to take his time going to take a corner. Game management is the polite term, and for one so young…. But then full throttle again, another fine spin turn from Evan, rolling his defender like Drogba and a penalty. Dylan O with a net buster and 3-1. Hungry for more, Castleknock stayed in this sports option, high tempo all the way. Dylan O unlucky with a shot wide, Cian with a shot blocked, Evan with a double chance blocked, all in the space of two minutes. To wrap it up Dylan C waltzed through the defence and was through on goal, 1 v 1 and it had to be……. but here comes Cian with his jet pack on and boom, he makes it 4-1. Dylan C the first to celebrate with Cian, sign of a team for sure.
So, Vote No1 for this team. Great performances for every player. Special mention to Dawide B for his safe handling, Ethan O for his composure and quality and Cian DaC for this energy and pressure. But MOTM to Evan for his hold up play and lay offs to the oncoming midfielders. Great forward play today Evan.
