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Battling Bow hang on

December 7th 2000. Evening Herald - Jimmy Geoghegan.

Bow Lane Celtic 1 - Stedfast United 1

Bow Lane Celtic manager Pat Walsh wore a broad smile after this Division 3A clash at Bushy Park - and with good cause. He had just watched his young side - who only joined the UCFL at the start of the season - battle their way to a precious league point against table toppers Stedfast. During the 90 minutes Walsh was an animated figure along the the sideline as he saw his team take an early lead then have to absorb some fierce pressure from United. The fact that a strong Stedfast outfit didn't go away with all three points was largely due to the Celtic keeper Martin Quinn who brought off a number of top notch saves.

EFFORTS

He did well to hold on to efforts from Cathal McNiff, Kevin Dooley and most impressively, a double stop from Brian Saunders in the second-half. Stedfast enjoyed most of the possession with the pattern of the game made up of United attacks and Celtic breakaways. Celtic took an unexpected lead after just six minutes, Paul McGarry drilling a low shot into the net. McGarry was just back after a long lay-off and had to leave the field with a leg injury a few minutes after scoring. Stedfast's equaliser after 14 minutes came from a defensive error with the pacy McNiff latching on to a loose pass to fire high into the net.

NEAREST

A Keith Shannon header was the nearest Celtic came to scoring again. Stedfast applied the pressure in the closing stages but got little change from the resolute home defence.

STEDFAST: Brian Lamon, John Hodge, Brian Keane, Darren Kavanagh, John McDermott, Neil Mouatt, Kevin Dooley, Neil Smith, Brian Saunders, Cathal McNiffe, Keith Croly. Gerry Browne, Steve Coffey, Stephen White, Brian Hannon, Donal Brady, Kevin Dooley.
Subs : Craig Madden.

REFEREE: James Galvin.