Celtic's Under-12 Premier struggled on as the title race comes to a close missing 3 midfielders in this clash against Boyne Rovers from Drogheda.

The game was very much nip and tuck until 15 mins into the game.  Celtic moved the ball swiftly from the back with captain Sean Hanney playing the ball to Gareth O'Hara, who played a wonderful one-two with Dermot Murray, and sliced the defence open for Conor Byrne to sidestep the Rovers' left back and slot the ball to the front post for Brian Slevin to bury goal number 56 of the season with the slickest of touches, which made it probably the team-goal of the season. We think Dermot Murray's goal against Clontarf during the week was the individual goal of the season. 1-0 to Celtic.

The game remained tight with Boyne's commanding centre half controlling the game at the back and thwarting Celtic as they pressed forward in wave after wave.

The game continued in this vein with Mark Conroy volleying against the bar on the stroke of half time.

The second half was more of the same with Celtic under pressure for most of the second period until 5 mins from the end when the deadly duo Slevin and Byrne stepped up with Slevin beating 3 players on a mazey run to slot the ball through the defence for Byrne to round the keeper. 2-0 to Celtic.

Byrne and Slevin have amassed 104 goals between them with Byrne just short of the magical 50.

Manager Elliott commented that it's a sign of a good team when you grind out a result after playing badly.  Man of the match was the ubiquitous battling Sinead O'Farrell at left back just pipping Gareth Junninio Elliott, who had another great game at the heart of the engine room.