Under-9 Red League

22 March 2003

Another great win for the Castleknock side!

Dunboyne 2  Castleknock Celtic 3

These two sides had already met 3 times this season, once in the NDSL League and twice in the Cup. So on a glorious Saturday morning, the stage was set for another thrilling encounter at Dunboyne’s excellent facilities on Summerhill Road.

Dunboyne began the match in a positive fashion, putting together a series of excellent passes that opened up the Castleknock defence.  By the end of the first quater, Castleknock were trailing 1-0.

Dunboyne continued their good work in the 2nd quarter and scored a second goal.  They continued to attack the Castleknock goal in waves, yet time and time again, they were denied by Castleknock’s goalkeeper and man-of-the-match Conor Lynch.  At half-time, Castleknock were 2-0 down and looked like they might lose heart!

After a little re-organisation and a pep talk by the team managers, Castleknock began the 3rd quater with renewed vigour and started putting together some excellent moves.  After one such move, the ball came to Sean Clarke on the edge of the penalty area.  Sean weaved his way past 3 defenders to slot the ball into the back of the Dunboyne net.  1-2 and game on! Castleknock now began to lay siege to the Dunboyne goal and soon the scores were level when Graham Norton scored a second goal near the end of the quarter.  2-2.

The final quarter was a real ding-dong affair.  Both sides played good attacking football only to be denied by strong defences.  Castleknock’s centre-half, Thomas Healy made a superb goal-line save and started many of Castleknock’s attacks with surging runs up the wing.  When one of Dunboyne’s attacks broke down, the ball was cleared and played upfield to Jamie Reid who struck from 15 metres out to score a superb goal in the top corner of Dunboyne’s net.  The final 5 minutes was a frantic affair but Castleknock held on to win a thrilling encounter 3-2.

The crowd cheered both teams at the final whistle and one proud dad was heard saying that “this was the best game of football he has seen all season at any level.”