9 February 2003
SFAI Cup 4th Round
Castleknock
Celtic 3 (Johnny Quinn 1, Paddy Andrews 2)
Dunboyne 1 (Steve Gilligan)
In
a sun-drenched Porterstown, the 14As progressed to the 5th Round of
the SFAI Cup with an impressive 3:1 victory over their old rivals Dunboyne.
Castleknock got off to a flying start when Jonathan Quinn perfectly timed his
run into the box to meet a ball floated in by left-full Gary Masterson, and
managed to squeeze home as the Dunboyne keeper struggled to collect.
Smarting from the early goal, Dunboyne found it tought to contain
Castleknock, who controlled the opening 15 minutes with a display of
crisp-passing and attacking football, with Paddy Andrews opening up the Dunboyne
defence with his dribbling, and Thomas Nolan dragging his marker out of
position. However in the 15th minute, a bit of over-elaboration
in the Castleknock defence gifted Dunboyne’s Stephen Gilligan with an
opportunity and he made no mistake. 1-1.
The
goal was just what Dunboyne needed, and for the remainder of the half, from
Eamon Browne in defence, they matched home side throughout the pitch with
Castleknock keeper Alan Murphy bringing off one great save. The sides were
still level at half-time.
The
Porterstown side upped the pace from the kick-off and showed a great hunger and
willingness to work their socks off. Celtic were led by captain and
mid-field dynamo Daragh Daly, who gave a non-stop “box to box” performance
that tormented the hearts out of the
Dunboyne mid-fielders, whose possession he
robbed time and time again. John Byrne and Danny Sweeney were not far
behind. With such dominance in mid-field and with McAuley, Arkins,
Moriarty and Masterson rock solid in defence, it was only a matter of time
before Castleknock took the lead. Castleknock took the lead when Paddy
Andrews pressurised the Dunboyne keeper, who was unlucky when he spilled a
ground shot to allow Paddy to punish.
Dunboyne
to their credit continued to battle and got an opportunity to get back on terms
but John Moriarty who failed to deal with a high ball, made up great ground to
get in a vital tackle in the box.
The
final score came in the 33rd minute of the second half, when the ball
deflected “painfully” off Daly’s groin, and as he fell to his knees Paddy
Andrews slotted to the bottom corner with the Dunboyne defence standing and
waiting for the whistle.
Overall a gritty display from Castleknock who are
well capable of going much further, if they maintain the commitment to training
that they have displayed in recent weeks.
