Driving rain,gusty winds, hailstones, sunshine, sleet and bitter cold were all on show today in 90 minutes of football . Add to that a pitch that was near perfect at the start of the game and yet nearly unplayable at the finish and you could only admire every lad out there in the middle .The referee, quite rightly, punished any player sliding off their feet at an early stage allowing both Park centre- backs Segun Duyile and Sean Kelliher to give an exhibition in how to defend the modern way .Segun looked an outstanding prospect throughout the ninety minutes .This also enabled Ryan Dolan and Sean Dukes to get forward which both did to great effect the longer the game went on .
Celtic took an early lead after a mis-placed Paddy Collins pass was pounced on .Quick thinking by James Duggan brought the score level when he converted a free kick while the Celtic keeper was still lining up his wall .Stefan Okonbor made the score 2-1 when he headed home from a free kick . A poor kick from keeper Conor Hurley resulted in Celtic getting an equaliser before the interval ,but right on the stroke of half-time another Stefan Okonbor goal gave Park the lead .
The second half was totally dominated by the Park, James Duggan obtained his hat-trick with the second goal coming from a magnificent 30 yard strike with his left foot which will be hard to beat as a goal of the season contender .In between these two goals , substitute Karl Mullins finished off a lovely flowing move involving six players .
Credit to all the Park lads for not taking the easy option of kicking the ball long which the conditions would have accommodated and which some of the crowd would have welcomed ,judging by some of the comments .Mistakes will be made by young players overplaying at times , but they will be better players learning from these rather than ” getting rid of it ” at every opportunity .
Nice to see Feargal O’ Donoghue, a former Park player , back in action for Celtic , injury-free and indeed playing as well as any player on the pitch .
Conor Hurley,Ryan Dolan,Segun Duyile,Sean Kelliher,Sean Dukes,Paddy Collins,Emanuel Abubaker ,Fergal Ryan,Luke Moynihan,James Duggan,Stefan Okonbor subs Karl Mullins,Gazza Savage, Morrough Connolly.
Report by T.Collins
