U17: Rock are rolling towards the title
Glenmuir United 0–2 Rock Celtic
Two second half goals from Kizito Ekwueme and Conor Neary gave U17 Premier Division leaders Rock Celtic three valuable points away to Glenmuir on Wednesday night.
The result saw Rock Celtic open up a four-point gap between their nearest challengers Bellurgan United and puts the Blackrock side firmly in the driving seat in the race for the title.
Glenmuir dominated most of the first half with Rilwan Ibrahim, Ben Kapinga and Abdul Abubakar all going close to opening the scoring as they bombarded the away team’s goal in the first 25 minutes.
However, Rock’s shaky defence stood strong with Conor Neary and Liam McDonnell putting in good performances to frustrate the Glenmuir forwards.
Rock Celtic came more into the game as half time approached with Aidan Curtin stretching the Glenmuir defence on several occasions and Ekwueme looked certain to score on 33 minutes but was denied by a brave block from Glenmuir defender Ify Kwelele.
Ekwueme did break the deadlock 30 seconds into the second half when Neil Smyth’s pass sent him clear and he slotted past the advancing Kyle Connor.
Glenmuir’s response was positive with Abdul Abubakar unlucky to see his effort go wide and Melvin Onu almost scored when he rose unchallenged to head Rory Phelan’s corner kick but his free header went over the bar.
Rock were holding onto the slender lead but they doubled their advantage against the run of play with a strange goal when Conor Neary’s free kick from the halfway line was allowed sail over the entire Glenmuir defence and the ball somehow crept over the line.
Glenmuir made several changes in a bid to get back into the game but the Seasiders held on for a deserved win and six points from their remaining three games — Redeemer (h), Ardee Celtic (a), Albion (h) — should be enough to secure the league title.
GLENMUIR UNITED: Kyle Connor, Cian O’Donoghue. Ify Kwelele, Tolani Animashaun, Rory Phelan, Daniel Mullen, Jamie Doherty, Rilwan Ibrahim, Abdul Abubakar, Melvin Onu, Ben Kapinga, Aaron Fee, Patrick Nicholson, Cain Bromley, Luke Murray.
ROCK CELTIC: Tom McDonough, Liam McDonnell, Mark Hanna, Conor Neary, Senan Duffy, Peter McStravick, Tom Jackson, Kizito Ekwueme, Neil Smyth, Aiden Curtin, Riaghan Murphy, Dylan Johnston, Rory Staunton, Joseph Uhunamuinre.
REFEREE: Denis Dullaghan
