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Castleknock U9’s welcomed St Marys FC on a glorious morning for football. The visitors unfortunately only had 6 players so the games proceeded as 6–a-side.
Period 1 - Marys struggled to get to grips early on as Celtic punished their opponents with some classy finishing thanks to a Essay Okirikpo brace. Luke Hughes made it 3-0 and it looked bad for St Marys. However the Marys boys had other ideas as they fought back to 3-2 and at that stage looked the stronger team. With minutes to go in period-1 Okirikpo completed a well deserved hat trick to make it 4-2 before Marys struck back on the whistle to make it 4-3.
Period 2 – Fresh legs were introduced in the form of the Moreno boys (Alvaro & Pedro) and Ryan Sherlock and wow, were they needed, as Marys took the game to Celtic. The hard tackling of the Moreno’s and new boy Gerard were crucial in helping Sherlock, who made some good saves, to keep a clean sheet. With 5 minutes left Cillian Mooney was re-introduced and his calming influence not to mention exquisite touch ensured Celtic survived. FT: 0-0
Period 3 – Celtic made more changes but Marys continued where they left off in Period 2 and scored early on. Indeed were it not for some brave keeping by Sherlock, Marys would have gone further ahead. Enda Finn and Lucas Girigan re-entered the fray to steady the ship and as the game wore on Celtic started to gain the upper hand with Mooney dominating the midfield play. With 5 minutes left Mooney passed to Hughes out left . With plenty still to do the youngster proceeded to beat one player, did two step overs to wrong foot another before shooting home from an acute angle. A wonderful piece of skill that even had the opposition supporters applauding. It certainly woke Hughes up who until then had been quiet by his standards. With a minute left the “Batman & Robin“ act did it again as Mooney played in Hughes who scored this time with a power shot from the right. The goal broke St Mary’s hearts and with fatigue now a factor the impressive Okirikpo made it 3-1 in stoppage time – a scoreline that flattered Celtic. FT: 3 - 1
All in all a good game. Celtic will be pleased that they improved in each period and the St Marys boys should be very proud of themselves for their courageous and skilful performance with only fatique denying them in the end.
Good weather, good football and great goals – not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning.
