6th April 2008

NDSL 13A

Lusk Utd  1    Castleknock Celtic 1

A Draw a Fair Result

The weather reflected this strange game in Lusk. Dominating from the start, it seemed only a question of how many goals Castleknock would score as Ryan O Donnell and Michael Kiely dominated the early exchanges in midfield. In defence Kevin Bassett dealt comfortably with the sporadic Lusk attacks. Chance after chance fell to the Castleknock team and eventually Luke o Doherty fired in the opening goal from outside the box. Chances then fell to Wale, Ryan, Conor Murphy, but a second goal eluded them.

At the restart Castleknock continued to control matters, however about 10 minutes into this half a shower of hail stones forced the temporary suspension of the match.  When the game restarted after about a 5 minute break it seemed that the Castleknock players were asleep. Lusk attacked at will for the next 10 minutes and despite 3 brilliant saves by Patrick Dunne, they got an equaliser.

Immediately after this, normal service resumed and Castleknock laid siege to the Lusk goal seeking a winner.  Ryan O Donnell, Dara McCarthy, and Wale all went close but a winner was not forthcoming. 

All during the game the Lusk team had singled out Wale for robust treatment and he needed attention at least 5 times during the match after strong dubious challanges from the Lusk defence.

The Castleknock bench was an odd place, as John Roe arrived on crutches, Gary Hannifin tore a hamstring in the warm ups, and Eamon Gately hurt his knee, also in the warm ups.

Commenting on the game, John Roe said that Castleknock could have/should have easily won this game, yet in the 10 minute period after the hailstones they could have lost it.  "ALL IN ALL, A STRANGE GAME AND MAYBE A DRAW WAS A FAIR RESULT"