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Celtic took to the pitch missing the influential Eoin O'Brien and Cian O'Hara for this 2nd round of the All-Ireland SFAI Cup, and it showed.  Celtic as always were solid at the back, with the highlight of the game being another clean sheet for the NDSL Premier League leaders. 

Overall the game was very scrappy with Celtic always being on top, but with no real flow to the game.  For most of the first half, Mullingar proved very plucky opposition, competing for everything.  But in this department, Celtic more than matched them.  An obvious trait of this Celtic team is their tenaciousness, constantly snapping at the heels of the opposition, which denied Mullingar even scraps, and in truth they seldom looked like they would score.

Celtic went close early on with Brian Slevin's effort being cleared off the line.  The same player was in the thick of it on 25 mins, when the classy Dermot Murray strode forward, and crossed into the box.  Young Slevin seized on the bouncing ball and placed his shot coolly past the Midlands' keeper.  Brian has now notched up 34 goals already, and it isn't Christmas yet. 1-0 Half-time.

The second half was even scrappier than the first, with captain Cian Conway trying to spur his team on with a man of the match display, but to no avail.

Celtic were stuttering until Sinead O'Farrell seized her opportunity, after Mullingar had given away a disputed free-kick.  Sinead was the coolest player on the park as she slotted her shot into the far corner of the Mullingar net, probably the only spot in the goal that the keeper was not going to reach.  That was game over.

Celtic now play their old adversaries, Clontarf FC, in the next round on 4th December.  They have now gone 16 games unbeaten, with 10 clean sheets in a row.

As they say, it's a great sign, when you play way below par and still grind out a 2-0 win.  When this happens, you find it is the great work ethic that has delivered the result, and that was there again in abundance.