Castleknock Celtic  2  Manortown  1

"Celtic dig deep to grind out a fantastic result"

DDSL 12C1

15 Nov. 08

Celtic were smarting from their drubbing at the hands of the same opposition at the start of the season.  They were determined that things would be different today.  They were boosted by the addition of Jimmy Ennis to their coaching team. Jim has been a great servant of Castleknock Celtic over the years serving as player and manager.  Manager Peter Allen and Assistant Manager Tony Sheehan were confident that the team had made a lot of progress over the intervening weeks and they were hoping for better things.

Celtic started brightly and looked industrious, looking threatening with their striker Kenny Mokhonoana going close a couple of times - see slide show.  On another day with his luck in, he would have probably hit a hat-trick.  Kenny, Ruairi Sheehan and Daniel Jurcik were a constant threat with their probing runs.  But surprise, surprise, it was Manortown who drew first blood.  They broke clear to give themselves a 1-0 advantage at half-time.

Celtic got the full works from their management team during the half-time break, and it paid dividends.  Mohammed Elkhalid was introduced midway through the second half, and the whole game changed. Celtic had been creating chances galore, but they now added the necessary penetration. Kenny and Ruairi came within a whisker of levelling the game.  Celtic did have to defend, and particularly deserving of credit were Dovydas Baranauskas and Joey Mongan who were magnificent in defence.  They also had the rock solid James Vaughan hitting everything that moved putting in another sterling performance. And anything that got past the back four was well dealt with by David Allen in goal who gets better with every game.

Joey Mongan did not confine himself to the defending however, and it was from one of his penetrating surges through the middle that Celtic equalised.  He broke through with composure, and slotted home from close range on 45 mins.  It was no more than Celtic deserved as they had gone so close so often. The Celtic supporters went wild on the line as their side made the breakthrough. 1-1

In the middle of the park, Celtic benefited hugely from the deft touches of Marcus Tunney who made some surging runs down the flanks and through the channels.  It was he and Dovydas who delivered the coup de grace.  Dovydas won the ball deep in his own half, surged forward, beating a number of players, took the ball to the byline, before he crossed to the incoming Marcus who made no mistake from 12 yards out.  2-1 and the home support were in Paradise.

While a lot of players were singled out for mention above, this was above all a team performance, with Jack Sullivan, Tom Phelan, Ross Murray and Paul McGrath, all making sure that this was going to be Celtic's day.  You have to say that there is a very good team spirit within this squad which will ensure that they will continue to progress.  They are all looking forward to the new coach's drills on Tuesday at training.  Team administrator Leonie Rossiter was delighted with the team's performance and she congratulated the management team of Peter Allen, Tony Sheehan, and new man, Jimmy Ennis, for getting the boys so focused.