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Wonderful game of football ends with Athlone snatching win
Castleknock have had a tough start to the season but recent performances suggested that the Boys are starting to come good and today would be a day to measure any improvement since their 5-0 drubbing by todays opponents Athlone Town on the opening day of the season.
Athlone Town may have arrived as the unbeaten league leaders but it was Celtic who started brightly and nearly took the lead after two minutes when Leigh Reilly shot just over having intercepted a poor back pass. Just the start the Celts wanted and they built on this. Lloyd Turner made one of many great runs before crossing to the unmarked Reilly whose shot edged just wide. Minutes later we got the move of the match. Celtic played it out from the back out left to Dylan Mc Donagh . A pass into the middle to Mark Hughes. Reilly made a run left. Hughes found him and Reilly played the return pass to Hughes who cut in , shot and we were all celebrating a wonderful goal when we got an even more wonderful finger tip save. A corner. Hughes delivered. Athlone cleared and 15 seconds later they were nearly ahead. It was that sort of game – end to end. Celtic dominating possession but Athlone counter attacking a la Real Madrid. HT: 0-0
What could the Celtic Coaches say other than “More of the same”. And that’s what we got. Antonio Neto played an exquisite ball our right to Ciaran Collins whose drive was parried by the keeper just evading Reilly. Minutes later Collins crossed again where Reilly’s shot was saved well. Celtic were on top with Turner the proverbial thorn in Athlone’s defence. However it wasn’t all Celtic as Athlone showed their pedigree with their two quality midfielders having a fascinating battle with Neto and Hughes while their pacey forwards had Celtics defence on their toes with Franc Ajunomah and Luke O’ Flaherty standing out. As we entered the final quarter and the game in the balance a moment of uncertainty in the Celtic defence proved costly as the Athlone striker pounced to make it 0-1 with their first strike of the second half. Heartbreak and with Celtic looking on the ropes Athlone pushed for a second to kill the game off. To their credit Celtic rallied and got the goal they deserved. Hughes delivered a free kick in from 35 yards out. The ball fell dangerously in the box and Donatus Mweke was first to re-act to force the ball home. 1-1 and still 7 minutes left.
Both teams were not settling but with both defences on top a draw looked inevitable. However with 2 minutes left Celtic conceded a soft free kick 20 yards out but there was nothing soft about the sweet strike from the Athlone striker who celebrated like it was a Cup final. FT: 1-2.
Well done to Athlone. They are top of the table for a reason. Hard working, talented they deserve to be there. Today they played better than they did when beating Celtic earlier in the season but they needed to against a formidable Celtic who matched them all over the pitch in what was the Game of the Season thus far such was the quality shown by both teams. Celtic impressed and no one who watched this game would have begrudged Celtic the draw their play deserved. Today there was more movement, more creativity and more shots than we have seen all season which all added up to their best performance to date. As well as a strong team performance there were many other positives most notably the display from Lloyd Turner who upped his game today to show Celtic fans what they can look forward to in the future. The Boys were disappointed with the loss but even they know they played well. Be proud lads – I think the applause from the crowd and the words from your Coaches tell you that you put in a great shift today. There’s more work to do but don’t be surprised if the Celts fortunes start changing…. Soon.
