With renewed vigour from their impressive win against Artane/Beaumont last week, this hardworking Castleknock side approached this encounter against St. Mochtas with the same determination and willingness to succeed. As this was a derby match, tensions were running high as opposing team members would share the same classroom come Monday morning!
Castleknock applied the pressure from the start and created many chances. They were unfortunate not to score as their passing skills were excellent. Against the run of play, St. Mochtas broke down Celtic’s left wing and scored to take the lead , 10 minutes into the game. After this eye-opener, Celtic rallied with Matthew Smith and Jordan Whelan making their presence felt up front.
Josh Mulligan threaded a superb ball through to Jordan Whelan, who blasted it from outside the box and gave St. Mochta’s keeper no chance, claiming the well deserved equaliser. Colm Ayres made darting runs down the wing , crossing skillfully to Matthew Smith who was unlucky not to claim another goal. Great praise to the St. Mochta’s keeper for some superb saves.
In the second half, Matthew Elliot caused a lot of trouble for St. Mochta’s defence with his skill and speed. Aran Long and Ryan Fitzmaurice were outstanding in the centre of defence and kept the St Mochta’s forwards at bay. The Celtic captain, Matthew Roberts was once again brilliant in goal and marshalled his defence at all times.
The 1-1 result at the final whistle didn’t reflect the domination shown by this Celtic side who are finding their form of late and look set to make their presence felt in the months ahead even though they have moved up a number of leagues this season. Despite having been comprehensively beaten 8-1 by St Mochta’s just fourteen months ago, Celtic’s draw today gives an indication at least of how they have developed and grown over the past year.
A big thanks from the team to Anu Lawl who could not play due to injury but still came out to support his team. match action
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