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Castleknock welcomed Verona FC to Porterstown this week, hoping to follow on from their fine display the previous weekend. Once again, Castleknock started brightly and created a number of early chances. The new combination of Leon Girigan and Ben Fleming up front was working well and Ben was unlucky not to score from close range with a well timed run and good strike following some good approach play by Castleknock.
It was not too long before the pressure by Celtic paid off with a beautifully worked goal starting in Celtic’s defence. Patrick Balogun was under pressure from the opposing forward but showed composure to pass to Sebastian McMahon inside him. Bassy played one of his excellent trademark passes to Leon Girigan on the wing who scorched past the Verona full back and carried deep into the Verona defence. An excellent shot from Leon beat the keeper but came back off the post and Aaron Lynch was there to stroke home the rebound with a cool finish. Superb goal.
On the other wing, Sean Balogun showed that he was just as effective as his brother at stopping his opposite number whilst starting more Castleknock attacks himself, with good passing down the flanks to Bode Lisoka and Ben Fleming. Bode and Ben were combining well to make Verona uncomfortable. Verona tried to launch some attacks of their own, but with Thomas Balogun’s pace and tackling ability alongside Bassy’s vision, Celtic looked comfortable at the back.
Ahmed Khalid was working well with the Lynch twins in midfield and a series of further chances were created, but the Verona goalkeeper was having a good game and was off his line quickly to prevent further scores. Despite Castleknock’s superiority, it was only 1-0 at half time.
Castleknock continued to attack down the flanks in the second half with David Jolley and Eoghan Kearney showing some excellent distribution. Eoghan Kearney started a good move down the right wing feeding Robert Lynch who yet again delivered another great ball in the Verona box for his brother Aaron to score his second goal of the day with another cool finish. On a day in which every Celtic player had good games, Robert Lynch was just exceptional with a work ethic and range of distribution that typified the way Celtic want to play football. A superb performance. However, we must give great credit to Verona as they refused to lie down and launched a series of breakaway attacks themselves. However Dylan O'Dwyer in goal was quick and brave to come off his line to prevent a couple of great goal scoring chances for Verona. Meanwhile Eoghan Kearney showed both pace and strength to clear his lines, when under pressure from a number of Verona attackers on breakaway moves.
The final decisive goal to finish off the game for Castleknock came from a moment of magic through the intelligence of Gareth Healy. Receiving the ball in midfield, Gareth looked up and he played one of the most sublime passes we have seen all season. With one perfectly weighted pass he carved open the Verona defence and released Leon Girigan to attack. With Leon’s searing pace, the Verona defence had no chance and he advanced into the Verona penalty area before scoring in the bottom left corner, past the advancing goalkeeper. 3 goals for Castleknock and a clean sheet in defence. Well played boys, and thanks to the parents who supported their boys despite the later afternoon kickoff.
