This Match Report from Fingal Independent on Seoirse and Neil's Under 10's
RUSH ATHLETIC (E) 2 SWORDS CELTIC (D) 2
IN the immortal words of Match of the Day presenter, Gary Lineker - this is a game you didn't want to miss! So frantic was the pace that at times you were tempted to press the pause button on your digital box just to catch your breath or maybe even pop out for a cup of tea! It was riveting stuff played between two teams who had just the win in mind and as such it turned out to be an absolute belter of a contest. A draw was the fairest result with Sean Doheny on hand to give the home side a share of the spoils. In a game where there were some exceptional displays, Dylan Gaul's performance at the back for Celtic caught the eye most on the day. Assured going forward, every pass was a gem and time and time again he was able to find a player. He was equally good between the posts after the break. On the other side James O'hare excelled at centre half while Joe Burke rarely let a ball get past him throughout the course of the morning. Certainly it was a day where both sets of defenders had to be fully on their toes while the two respective goalkeepers were exceptionally busy in the first half. Rush took the lead straight from the kick off when Eoin Farrell found the back of the net despite the best efforts of Evan Gaffney who had managed to get a hand to Farrell's well struck effort. Athletic came close to doubling their advantage soon after when Gaffney was on hand to push another effort from Farrell around the posts. Celtic, who were keen to build on their impressive win over St Itas last week, were soon into their stride with their excellent box-to-box player, Hafis Subair, seeing an effort come back off the post. Shortly after that Matt O'meara produced an excellent save out of Callum Burke who was then on hand to snap up the loose ball with Subair about to pounce from the edge of the box. Eventually Celtic were rewarded for their pressure when Subair ran onto a through ball from Kyle Honer before beating Burke with an assured finish. And with Celtic captain, David Brunton, very prominent down the right hand side and Subair always trekking back well to win back possession on a number of occasions for the visitors, Rush certainly had their work cut out. Nonetheless it took a very good save from Gaffney to keep Rush at bay in what was the final action of a pulsating first half. Rush continued to press after the re-start with Gaul who had now assumed goalkeeping duties producing a great double save to deny first Dylan Palmer and then Sean Doheny from a follow up shot. Following that Callum Burke was on hand to take the sting out of an effort from Brunton before holding his ground to deny Subair after he made a terrific run from half way. Then came an incredible passage of play at the other end with the home side no doubt still wondering how the ball managed to stay out. First Eric Carroll had tried to guide the ball into the back of the net with a sweetly struck shot from 30 yards out. Gaul however was on hand to avert the danger only for the ball to come back to Charlie Hand who was one of the main driving forces for Athletic after the break. But as he attempted to turn the ball home from an acute angle, it unfortunately came off a Rush player with a goal almost certainly on the cards. Having survived that scare, Celtic broke up field and although denied the first time round, they pressed again with Subair playing in Brunton who duly obliged from the edge of the box. However, there was one final twist in the tail when off a long ball played in by Carroll, Doheny was on hand to turn the ball home from close range.
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