Green Briar FC 2:3 Celtic FC
A horrendous playing surface at Joe Moakley Field on Sunday afternoon was not to blame as the Green Briar were dumped out of this year's MSSL Cup in the first round. One had just to look at the calibre of goal scored on the day to understand the result. The Briar coming up with two well worked goals at one end while very poor lapses in concentration and at times comedic defending gifted Celtic a hatrick of soft goals.
To say the Briar dominated the opening half is not an understatement. Yet they incredibly made the turn one down as sloppy play from a Briar free kick saw the ball turned over. Celtic subsequently led a great smash and grab counter attack to find the net off the right hand post. The Briar had committed men forward expecting a long delivery, yet they turned around to find the ball nestled in their own net.
This blog post would be thousands of words long if all the spurned opportunities of the first half were described, suffice it to say the net was not found for all the endeavour that was shown in the build up play. Three or four of the chances made were guilt edged opportunities to say the least. Braima Samati coming up empty on two break aways and Brian Claus and Gary Cassidy volleying over from their respective wings from close range.
It took the Green Briar four minutes of the second half to find the equalizer. A marauding run by David Lally out of the back saw him cross half way and lift a delightful ball over the defense to Gary Cassidy. The Limerick-man had stolen a march on the defense and yet had the composure to find an exquisitely weighted lob over the keeper to find the net. We are used to seeing Gary come up with special goals, but this one ranks highly even for him, considering the pitch conditions and the game situation.
As the sixty minute mark came and went, the Green Briar hit the self destruct button in the space of two minutes. Firstly, a long free kick from the Celts floated innocuously towards the Briar goal. Incredibly the ball went through DelPieri's hands in goal to gift the lead back to Celtic.
It seemed like only seconds later the ball was pinging around the Briar penalty area again and as DelPieri got caught in no man's land, David Lally was forced to handle on the line to stop a sure goal. Lally was lucky not to see his marching orders, but Celtic grabbed the gift that was presented to them and doubled their lead from the spot.
Five minutes later the Briar would respond. A beautifully driven free kick from Gary Cassidy was headed back across goal by Emmett Doonan and Brian McGuinness found the net with his head from 4 yards. McGuinness deserved this reward for a classy performance. He was at the hub of most good things the Briar created on the day as he put in his best performance of the season.
With seven minutes remaining the Green Briar earned a life line in the tie. Braima Samati wriggled free in the area and his shot was handled by a Celtic defender resulting in a penalty kick. Leo O'Connor stepped up but missed, as the Celtic keeper got down well to his right to stop the shot that could have been hit with more authority.
In the remaining minutes Gary Cassidy still managed to find a stinging shot only to see it clawed over by a Celtic keeper who was on his game. Time ultimately expired in the tie and Green Briar FC wish Joe and Rory McGrath and their team the best of luck in the next round.
Line Up: DelPieri, Hannick, Doonan, Lally(c), Hennessy(56'), McGuinness, O'Connor, Claus(74'), Cassidy, Coyne(78'), Samati(YC)(89')
Subs: Rossetti(34'), Coen(16'), McCarney(12'), Caldwell(1')
Unused: Mullane
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