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It was a month ago when Celtic had lost their unbeaten run at home to Mount Merrion, and so as the 2 sides fronted up against each other, again in Porterstown, everyone knew there would be a close contest.
Celtic started brightly and were competing well, winning many of the individual contests. They had a solid back-3, with Denis Diac, Edward Nuzum and Sam Kelly dealing well with the Merrion attack. In the middle of the park, Gavin Peters, Patrick O'Reilly and Anthony Cooke were combining well and creating chances for Sean Ogbomo up front. It was on one of such attacks that Patrick broke forward and hit an unstoppable shot that the Merrion keeper could not prevent from going into the net. The introduction of Matei Domsa, Andrew McGee and Brierton Murphy had no significant effect on the strength of the defence and they with Ethan Hoey in goal kept the visitors scoreless in that first half. Mirav Vaitha and Michael Kelly brought fresh legs to the attack and they went close to adding to Celtic's lead. Half time saw Celtic remain with a one goal advantage.
The half time pep talk was to ask for more of the same as there was little more that the team could have given. Merrion came out in the second half driven on by a determination to try and repeat their comeback of a month ago. They had won the previous encoiunter 6-4 and it looked like they had to score as they stormed forward in wave after wave of attack. Celtic had to show great resolve to keep the visitors scoreless for much of the second half. They had shot after shot with the ball whizzing by the posts and over the crossbar. Amazingly Celtic held out for long spells of that second half, thanks to much brave defending as the lads put their bodies on the line, taking shots to the chest to prevent goals. They had their own chances at the other end with Anthony Cooke, Michael Kelly, Patrick O'Reilly and Sean Ogbomo all going close. Edward Nuzum looked like he had to score only to be denied by the brave Merrion keeper. Sean sent a screamer over the bar from close range. In the final quarter however, the inevitable happended, and the Celtic resistence cracked. A great back forward by Merrion saw their striker outpace the Celtic defence and a powerful shot was hammered home which gave Ethan no chance in the Celtic goal. It was no more than the visitors deserved as they had fought like terriers and a lot of skill to claw their way back and gain a well-merited share of the spoils. In the end there was a deserved draw. While it is impossible to single out one player for Celtic's man of the match, Gavin and Matei deserve special mention for two very fine performances indeed. 2 great sporting teams had to their credit served up a hugely entertaining spectacle and both teams sportingly congratulated each other after the game. Well done lads. more action