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On a cool winter morning, Celtic travelled away to play Templeogue Utd after a recent hiatus of 3 weeks without a game. Fears that Celtic might be a bit rusty were quickly dispelled with Celtic playing quick passing football right from the kickoff resulting in two scoring opportunities in the first three minutes. Unfortunately Celtic failed to score but continued to press for advantage. In a new midfield combination, the Lynch twins were completely dominating their opposite numbers. Robert Lynch carved open the Templeogue defence with a series of great passing and he was ably assisted by Aaron's pace and work rate. Most of the chances were coming via the flanks with incisive runs and passing from Ben Fleming and Ahmed Khalid. Ben Fleming, Ahmed Khalid and Leon Girigan were unlucky not to score during this period. Another break down the wing resulted in a free kick for Castleknock which was taken by Robert Lynch. A superb effort beat everyone in the Templeogue goal but the ball hit the goalpost and rolled across the goal-line without being tapped home. Soon afterwards, good interplay involving Leon Girigan and Ahmed resulted in another free kick from 20 yards out. Once again Robert Lynch took it and this time placed a perfect shot in the top corner of the net for the opening goal. David Jolley was having his best game of the season so far and his passing with the midfield was top class. At the back, another comprehensive display by the Balogun boys (Sean and Patrick) repelled any attempts at wing play by the opposition. Templeogue never looked like scoring but won a free kick near the end of the half. A hopeful ball into the Castleknock 18 yard box was not dealt with properly and they scored the equaliser with their only opportunity in the first half. Castleknock were left to rue their profligacy in front of goal in that first half with a half time score of 1-1.
A more confident Templeogue side started the second half and tried to catch Castleknock on the break but the new central defensive combination of Sebastian McMahon and Alex Murphy were immense. Bassy’s vision and distribution allied with Alex Murphy’s pace, tackling and courage were terrific.
A good move started by Ben Fleming on the right wing released Robert Lynch who delivered a great ball in to Ahmed who scored from 6 yards out. However in one of their few forays into Castleknock territory, Templeogue scored an equaliser after a good move down the right wing. Any further attempts by Templeogue were easily dealt with by Dylan Dwyer in goal.
2-2 with 10 minutes to play. Castleknock held their nerve and did not resort to route-1 football. Instead they maintained their pass-and-move philosophy and continued to probe down the flanks. More excellent chances continued to come to Castleknock but somehow they failed to take advantage. Bode Lisoka was causing a lot of problems for Templeogue now on the right wing. He combined well with Thomas Balogun who played a great ball to Ahmed who scored his second goal, and the match winner with only a couple of minutes left. Full time score 3-2 for Castleknock.
A deserved win for Castleknock, in a match in which they should have romped home easy winners with the amount of chances they created, but they held their nerve when it seemed like it might not be their day. Congratulations to all the boys and to their parents who provided terrific support from the sidelines.
