Castleknock Celtic played away to Artane/Beaumont in the second leg of this Cup Competition. On this unusually mild winter’s morning, both teams were keen to make an impression. However, it was Castleknock who settled into the game first and they began to work well as team. The Castleknock mid- field of Colm Ayres, Matthew Elliot and Josh Mulligan applied the pressure from the outset. After 10 minutes, Colm Ayres chipped a fantastic well placed ball over the Artane/Beaumont defence for Matthew Smith to run on to. Matthew controlled the ball superbly, rounded the keeper at pace and slotted the ball in the bottom right hand corner of the net for Celtic’s opening goal, as only Matthew can do.
This score spurred on Artane/Beaumont to up their performance and they began to retaliate. The Castleknock defence of Aran Long, Anu Lawl and Ryan Fitzmaurice were unbeatable and were in total control at the back, which made life difficult for their opponents. Five minutes before half time Castleknock were awarded a free kick. It was quick thinking from Josh Mulligan that caught the Artane/ Beaumont defence out. Josh threaded the ball through to Matthew Elliot who blasted the ball past the keeper to claim a second goal for Celtic. Wow!
At the restart, Artane/ Beaumont came out with renewed energy. They successfully broke through Celtic’s defence but Goal keeper Matthew Roberts pulled off an outstanding save ensuring that he kept another clean sheet.
Up front, Jordan Whelan and Tom Hyland caused a lot trouble to the Artane Beaumont defence with some great runs up the wing and they were very unlucky not to make it three nil. Man of the Match went to Matthew Smith for an outstanding performance on the day. Best of Luck to this young team who now progress to the next round of the Cup.
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