Celtic threw away a 2 goal lead in this semi-final encounter.  Celtic were confident going into the game despite being without four regulars due to injury. They had beaten the visitors 1-0 early in the season.  And the way Celtic started, you would never have known they were below strength.

It was all Celtic from the start with Mark Conroy bombing down the right and hitting the cross bar right from the off.  They controlled the game for three-quarters of the game, and they poured forward with Gareth Elliot superb in midfield opening huge gaps at will and slotting Brian Slevin through to score a stunning solo effort.  1-0 to Celtic at half-time, and it should have been more.

Celtic resumed after the break as they had finished the first, in total control playing some beautiful expansive football with Eoin O'Brien unstopable on the right, as he tore through the Ashbourne rearguard to blast home the second. 2-0 to the Celts with 10 mins to go, game over! Or it should have been!!!!

What happened next was right out of the Gaiety with Celtic imploding in the space of 5 mins.
An unnecessary corner was not cleared and an own goal resulted.  Ashbourne back in it.

The next 3 mins saw some wild Celtic swings at the ball, and you would swear it was a different code!  It resulted in a free from 30 yards,which saw the ball shot into the top of the net.  2 v2 and extra time.

Celtic were stunned as to how this could happen? But worse was still to come with Ashbourne scoring straight from the re-start as Celtic wondered what was going on!

The home side now resumed the battle with Sinead O'Farrell, Eoin O'Brien and Brian Slevin all going close.  But to no avail as Ashbourne held on to win!

Manager Paul Slevin commented afterwards, "I'm not sure what happened out there in the last 10 mins of regulation play.  But that's kids' soccer!  U just have to concentrate for the full hour. We were sublime for 50 mins with no threat but we failed to see it out.  But at this level, it's about learning, and learning to lose as well as win, and today we had a very valuable lesson that hopefully will stand this wonderful team in good stead in the future.

Good luck to Ashbourne in the final, their never say die attitude was a credit to the players and their manager.