Stacey"s golden goal helps Hawks to win over over Reds

IN what turned out to be the most exciting and entertaining fixture of the finals evening at Athlone IT, AC Celtic Hawks secured a place in the final of the second annual Futsal Tournament thanks to a golden goal by Cathal Stacey. With the game level after normal time (16 minutes) and a five minute extra-time period, the game entered a golden goal period of three minutes. And just over a minute into the golden goal period, Cathal Stacey, who had several long range efforts throughout the match, finally found his range and sent a piledriver past Shane McEnery in the Willow Park goal. It was always going to be very harsh on either side to lose this game - particularly on the golden goal rule - and neither set of players really deserved to be on the losing side after dishing up a thoroughly entertaining end to end game of Futsal. The several hundred spectators gathered to watch the competition"s latter stages were not disappointed by this affair, with chances aplenty at both ends of the court. Apart from the five goals, there was also several instances of the ball hitting the woodwork as each team went hell for leather to seal a place in the final of the second annual Futsal Tournament. AC Celtic made a quick start to the first eight minute period, with Cathal Stacey smashing an effort off the Willow Park crossbar within seconds of kick-off. Over the course of the next few minutes, AC Celtic had goalkeeper Cathal Mannion to thank for a couple of fine saves. Firstly, Mannion saved well with his legs to deny Habib Sanusi after fine approach play by Willow Park"s Corey Reid. Seconds later - and with the game being played at helter-skelter speed - Mannion again saved well, this time denying Corey Reid from close range. The flow of these matches tends to change extremely quickly - and this proved the case here. AC Celtic were suddenly in the ascendency and were desperately unlucky not to break the deadlock when the hugely impressive Chris Roche"s shot beat Shane McEnery but crashed off the crossbar and away to safety. It was the second time AC Celtic had struck the woodwork inside three minutes of play. AC were further denied when Habib Sanusi got back to head Cathal Stacey"s header off the Willow goal line. Ryan Gaffey was having a good impact on Willow Park"s attacking play and was unfortunate to see his well struck left-footed effort pushed away to safety by Cathal Mannion. Willow had another let-off when Cathal Stacey beat Shane McEnery to a loose ball only for Willow"s Michael Doolin to do brilliantly when hacking the ball off the line. A blistering yet scoreless half ended when Ryan Gaffey"s delightful backheel set up Jack Ruane for a strike at goal but his effort was soundly turned around the post by Cathal Mannion. Willow Park were on the back-foot during the opening minutes of the second half and had Shane McEnery to thank for a terrific save from Chris Roche"s long distance effort. But AC Celtic found the breakthrough goal on eleven minutes. Patrick Joyce managed to burst past his marker near the touchline and his hopeful shot squeezed in between the Willow "keeper and the near post to give AC a valuable lead. However, it was short lived. Willow Park responded straight from the restart when Habib Sanusi"s excellent low finish found the bottom corner of the net. It was breathtaking stuff. AC replied with a couple of good attacks. Cathal Stacey"s powerful drive was just wide of goal before the same player, Stacey, saw another goalbound strike well blocked by Willow Park defender Michael Doolin. Ryan Gaffey then set up Habib Sanusi for a strike at goal but Cathal Mannion got down swiftly to save. But Sanusi was not to be denied and gave Willow the lead with a well struck shot following hard work by Jack Ruane. Just as Willow had done though, AC Celtic replied in an instant, as Chris Roche blasted home from the restart. Both sides had a couple of good chances during extra-time, with Habib Sanusi going closest for Willow and AC Celtic almost notching a winner through Chris Roche, whose shot struck the woodwork with only seconds remaining. Ryan Gaffey was also forced into a last ditch defensive block to deny Shane Duffy an almost certain winning goal for AC Celtic. The winner eventually arrived a minute into the golden goal period, with Cathal Stacey emerging the hero and sending AC Celtic into the final. AC Celtic Hawks: Cathal Mannion; Patrick Joyce; Liam Flowers; Cathal Stacey; Chris Roche; Timmi Olahede; Shane Duffy; Dean Kelly. Willow Park Reds: Shane McEnery; Ryan Gaffey; Habib Sanusi; Jack Ruane; Michael Doolin; Corey Reid; David Cleary; Brendan Martin. Referee: Declan O"Connor.