Boston Friendly Match (Saturday, April 5) The 2nd Annual pre-season Boston trip to play Irish Village SC (www.irishvillagesoccer.org) scheduled for Saturday, April 5th.  This date is firm, and overnight stay is optional.  We plan on bringing 3 teams: O-30, O-40 and a women's "30-ish" team (any wives, girlfriends, relatives welcome!).  Please tell your team manager if you want to play (O-30 Brian Douglas, O-40 Dave Skowronek, Women's Dan Rooney).  Click the Irish Village SC website link to see pictures of last year's trip on the News and Photos page. Last Year's Results Game 1: 3 Celtic (Gallinagh, Krane, Sullivan) 3 Irish Village   For the first game, Celtic fielded a mixture of the O-30 and O-40 squads, plus some guest players supplied by Eric Barreira.  In defense to start we had guest keeper Marco; Hank-a-mania and Rich Lewis at fullback, with Dan Jeffery sweeping and Geoff Hunt playing stopper.  In center midfield we started Dave Woolley and Mark Sully; out wide was Gary Charlton and Louis Hernandez.  Up front we began the battle with Dougo and John Gallinah.  We went down 1-0 early on via a long ball over the top; my memory being sun and wind-burned from being out in it all day, I don't recall the exact sequence of goal scoring from that point on, but I believe we then tied it up when Eric Barreira was in clean but got taken down.  Shane Hassett missed the subsequent penalty, but Jordan Krane was on-hand to bang home the rebound.  So at half-time, I think the match was drawn.  John Gallinah then scored in the second half, but the opposition, fielding their O-40 team in this stanza, scored two straight goals and looked headed for victory until a stirring Celtic comeback in the later stages saw Mark Sullivan bang home the equalizer with less than five minutes left, for a well-deserved draw.   Other Celts appearing in this game were Jim Plitz and Rob Grenus in defense, David Kelly and Ricky Howard in midfield, and Shane Hassett and Kirk Durrant subbing up front.  Also appearing were Eric's other guests Tony (up front) and  Paul (in defense).   Game 2: 1 Celtic (Howard) 2 Irish Village   The second match saw Celtic start with most of the players who were rested for game 1.  This was a predominately O-30 lineup playing against a younger and talented Irish Village side.  The predominant lineup was:  Roons in goal; Rob Grenus sweeping; Jimmy Plitz and former Celt Brett (mate of Emeka Iheme) at left back; Jared Lewis at stopper; David Kelly and former Celt Emeka in center-mid; Kirk out wide right, Eric out wide left; with Tony and Shane up front.  Also appearing in this game were Jordan K, Ricky Howard, and Rich Lewis.   Celtic got off to a disastrous start with a mis-communication between Roons and Richie resulting in Richie scoring an O.G., nicely tucking it around Roons.  Despite a fairly even half, disaster struck again with a giveaway, and some resulting out of position defending, leaving the IV right mid with a clean strike at goal, and he buried it underneath Roons to give the home side a 2-0 lead going in the half.  Celtic carried the play in the second half, with Ricky Howard scoring the goal of the day with a one-timer from the top of the box into the top corner.  Despite giving up some counter-attacking chances, Celtic dominated the half, hitting the woodwork twice and had other near chances, but came up short in the end.   After the match, everyone then headed over to Brighton to the Irish Village Pub.  A buffet was provided and short speeches by Irish Village President Darcie Gagne and Roons the Celtic Treasurer were made.  The drink was flowing and it seemed everyone had a good time.  Most everyone left around 7:00 PM and headed onto the Mass Pike where it then started to snow and sleet on the way home.  Kirk Durrant had the best idea of the day: stay overnight!  That's something to seriously consider next year.