On what was a perfect day for football, Carrigtwohill United welcomed Park Celtic Summerhill from Meath in the Last 32 of the SFAI U16 National Trophy at Camden in Crosshaven.

 

The first half was a tense affair, with Carrig spending much of the half camped in Celtic’s half. Carrig came close through decent efforts from Owen, Nathan, Aaron, Michael and Bryan but couldn’t find the breakthrough.

 

Our backline of Isaac (C), Sam, Jack and Karol, with Dylan sitting deep in midfield, formed a solid defensive unit throughout the game. Celtic broke out well on two occasions and had a good chance to score, sending a one-on-one narrowly wide of Sean’s goal.

 

A change in formation at half-time worked in our favour. Three minutes into the second half, Michael won back possession as Celtic tried to play out from the back. Aaron played the ball across to Owen, who slotted home calmly after coming in from the left to make it 1–0.

 

Minutes later, Aaron again turned provider with a perfectly weighted slide-rule pass into Michael, who timed his run well to stay onside and finished high into the net to make it 2–0.

 

At 2–0, Celtic began to tire and struggled to get out of their own half. Carrig kept the intensity high, creating multiple chances — Fionn struck the post, Ryan Moore went close on several occasions, and Rafa was unlucky not to add his name to the scoresheet with phenomenal strike  

Jack L finished off a lovely team move, created by Fionn, who delivered a pinpoint cross from the right for Jack to make it 3–0.

Jack L then grabbed his second of the day after finding space in the box and rifling a shot into the net to make it 4–0.

 

Aaron capped off a superb performance by making it 5–0, finishing a sublime chipped goal past the keeper after a brilliant 8-pass team move — a real highlight moment in the game.

Bailey shored up the midfield with a fantastic work rate after coming on, along with Jamie keeping things solid at the back 

Bart helped keep a well-earned clean sheet,

and the impact from the bench maintained the tempo and intensity throughout.

 

Special thanks to Crosshaven FC for the use of their fantastic astro on the day — hopefully we’ll have one of our own soon.

 

Thanks also to Park Celtic Summerhill for a sporting game, and best of luck to them for the rest of the season.

 

We now look forward to the Last 16 draw, which will be made during the week.