Kentstown Rovers 0 Castleknock Celtic 1

This game in Kentstown, near Navan, was given the go ahead following a late pitch inspection on Friday evening when most Dublin pitches were deemed unplayable. And they don't come much closer than this one.

Castleknock started well and were clearly on top during the opening ten minutes without really threatening the Kentstown goal. The home team gradually got into the game and controlled midfield, in particular for the remainder of the half. However they could not breach the solid Castleknock defence and the half time whistle arrived with the game still scoreless.

Kentstown started the second half in determined fashion and launched attack after attack on the Castleknock goal. Despite the constant pressure, the match remained scoreless thanks to some excellent defending by goalkeeper Paul Stanley, who had been the hero in the penalty shoot-out that decided the previous round against Kingscourt (see photo), and captain Micheal Gately. Castleknock were limited to the occasional breakaway for most of the half.

With 15 minutes remaining Castleknock moved Luke Green from defence to partner Johnny Cooper up front. This proved to be the match winning move. With 3 minutes remaining, Cooper collected the ball out on the left wing, beat 2 defenders and sent over a great cross which the incoming Luke Green side-footed into the net.

As the game went into injury time, Kentstown launched one final attack. Following a defensive mix-up, the Kentstown No. 9 looked certain to equalise with only the goalie to beat. Somehow, man of the match Paul Stanley got a touch to it and diverted it around the post. The resultant corner was cleared and the referee then blew for full time to the great relief of the visiting team, who had travelled in the early morning for this game in Navan.