Clinton the star of show as clinical Coolboy sink Celtic
ARKLOW CELTIC COOLBOY RANGERS 0 4
COOLBOY RANGERS claimed a comprehensive 4-0 victory in the K & K Windows U15 Premier Division as they defeated a gallant Arklow Celtic side at Celtic Park on Sunday afternoon, with winger Conor Clinton running the show.
Clinton was at the centre of everything good in his side’s play as he netted a super solo goal and set up another two to help his side to victory.
Zach Furlong, Oisin Gorman and Conor Byrne were also on the scoresheet.
Furlong and Clinton linked up extremely well throughout the game and their combinations were the difference.
Both sides looked organised in the early minutes with neither side committing many men forward.
There was little goalmouth action inside the first 15 minutes, with just two shots coming the way of Arklow.
Ciaran O’Keeffe had an effort smothered by Rangers keeper Patrick Faye, while Paul O’Connor’s speculative attempt from distance was straight at Faye.
It was a very good battle with both sides putting the foot in and nobody was willing to pull out of the tackle.
Coolboy did show a lot of nice touches in midfield and won the ball back on a good few occasions with some tenacious tackling especially through Rory O’Dare and Conor Byrne.
The opening goal came on 25 minutes. Conor Clinton did well to beat his opposition defender, he then played the ball to Zach Furlong who turned well and snuck the ball under keeper Cormac Murray.
Coolboy did start to grow and grow and there was a lot of pressure on the Arklow defence.
Arklow were trying their best to play good football but they were unfortunate that Coolboy were on song on the day.
Four minutes before the break it was 2-0, with Clinton again the provider as his cross from the left picked out Oisin Gorman, who volleyed the ball through the legs of the luckless Murray.
This was a killer blow for Celtic as they hadn’t conceded many other chances but Coolboy were potent and clinical in their attacking play. They did have their best chance a couple of minutes after the interval as Paul O’Connor played through Cian Reilly who was left one on one with goalkeeper Faye, but Faye came up trumps and parried away from danger.
Eleven minutes into the half and Coolboy extended their lead as Clinton netted to add to his two assists.
He ran from inside his own half to subsequently slot home.
Arklow struggled to cope with his pace down the left wing as he also showed some very high work rate and was also very strong in the tackle.
Coolboy were always very calm on the ball and never panicked when put under pressure.
They made it 4-0 on 55 minutes. A short corner was played to Rory O’Dare, who played a wicked cross into the box, found the head of Conor Byrne, who buried it into the corner of the net.
Arklow were unfortunate to lose the game by such a margin, as they did create chances but were just unfortunate with the final ball as it sometimes eluded the attackers. Goalkeeper Cormac Murray could do nothing about any of the goals but did clean up well inside his box.
In the end it was an impressive win from Coolboy with their clinical attack subsequently the big difference in the match.