::: Gorey Celtic FC

Friday 20th January 2012
Gorey Celtic 3 - 2 Shelburne

If you like a dramatic cup tie, Mullaunfin was the place to be last Friday night. 5 goals, 4 red cards, a missed penalty and a good old fashioned "Tear up".

We started slowly, looked a yard of the pace, and very sloppy in all aspects of our game, the first 20 minutes saw some " X Rated" tackles going in, with very few seeing yellow cards that they deserved, it was against the run of play that we took the lead, Danny Reilly firing home from close range, following a goalmouth scramble that saw a number of shots being either blocked or saved, eventually the ball ran loose in the six yard box and Reilly applied the finishing touch on 20 Mins.

On 25 our lead should have increased, the Shelburne goalkeeper hauling down David O Brien, the resultant spot kick from O'Brien being well saved. On 30 minutes Shelburne drew level, a poor clerance out of defence was captilised on by a Shelburne midfielder, his long punt forward caught the Celtic defence pushing up, the Shels attacker collected the long ball to calmly fire past Big Jack from 18 yards.

Shortly after the complete complexion of the game was about to change, a two footed lunge on Wes Fitzpatrick, saw Wes and the Shels offending player exchange verbals, this turned into a spot a wrestling on the ground, a number of other players became involved, Wes received a kick whilst on the ground, and a number of other players trading blows, when calm was restored, referee Nicky Boland had no other option, but to issue two Red Cards.

Things were to get much worse for Celtic 3 minutes later, after awarding Celtic a freekick, Eamonn Doyle proceeded to take the "free" at the last milli-second a Shelburne player tried to tip the ball away, thus stopping the kick free, Eamonn is in mid strike, connected with the Shels players calf, the referee having turned his back on the freekick, then turns around, seeing the Shels player on the floor holding his leg, and a number of Shels players demanding action, shows a dumbfounded Eamonn a straight red card.

Now its 9 against 10, on the biggest pitch in the county, and its not even half time!! Shay and myself decide that a 3- 4 - 1 is the best formation, try to get the players into the halftime break and re-organise.

H.T. 1-1

We asked the players at half time to show pride, and more importantly show discipline, we knew that we had a young team on the park, and more importantly 3 fresh subs that could be used.

There were times in the 2nd half that we simply chased and harried, Shels had more of the football, but were not really hurting us. David Gahan was introduced into the back three, with John Kavanagh moving into the left hand side of midfield, as the 2nd half progressed we started to ask a few questions of the Shelburne defence, a fine run by John Kavanagh saw him go one on one with the Shels keeper, his effort being well saved,
On 65 minutes we took the lead, a sublime peice of magic by Matt Kavanagh on the end line sees him escape his marker, his inviting cross into the 6 yard box is met by David O Brien, his neat flick finding the corner ofthe net. 5 Minutes later, O'Brien brings a fine save from the Shels keeper, his 25 yard shot being tipped onto the crossbar. On 75 miutes, James Graham is introduced from the tiring O Brien, fresh legs and hopefully snatch a third and put the game to bed.

On 87 minutes Shels equalise, a misplaced pass is intercepted on the corner of our penalty area, the Shels player fires home from 15 yards. Not only is it now 2-2, Big jack is forced to go off injured, Ken Byrne is voluntered by the rest of the team to go between the sticks, with young Jordan Davis replacing the very impressive Ken Byrne at centre half. The sight of the Shelburne players celebrating this equaliser as if they had won the cup, must have been hard for the player to stomach.

3 minutes left, plus stoppage time, could we see out the remaining time, hold out through the potential 20minutes of extra time, the gods seemed to be against us. With the game deep into injury time, Matt Kavanagh collects a through ball on the halfway line, he bares down on goal, leaving the Shels defenders in his wake, as he attempts to go around the keeper, he is flattened, 1 yard outside the box.
Referee Boland shows the keeper a straight red, and has awarded us a direct free kick. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Up steps Danny Reilly, his drive finds the corner of the net with the last kick off the game, Shelburne take the kick off and the ref blows for full time

We made loads of errors and mistakes during the 90 minutes. But what the players on show tonight gave was a performance of pride and passion and character. The players from the minutet hey went down to 9 men gave everything, and as a manager you cannot ask for anything else. They were a credit to the club.
We all want to try and play the game with style, but sometimes its guts and passion that get you through.

Team: Big Jack, Paul Timmins, Ken Byrne, Eamonn Doyle, John Kavanagh, Craig Connor, Danny Reilly, Matt Kavanagh, Terry Carey, Wes Fitzpatrick, David O'Brien.

Subs: David Gahan for Carey (60 mins), James Graham for O'Brien (75 mins), Jordan Davies for Big Jack (87 mins, inj)