- Knocklyon Celtic
Knocklyon Celtic was formed in 2003 by Mr. Derek Madden. The decision to form this club was reached in the Blue Haven Public House, Dublin, Ireland. The club was formed with a view to be the ‘most professional amateur club in the world’. Initially the club encountered difficulties securing sponsorship and fees from players, however somehow the club managed to get by and succeeded in getting going. The club progressed quickly and by the 05 / 06 season were league champions. This success has led the press to refer to the club as "GALACTICOS" a term often associated with Spanish Giants Real Madrid. Having gained this status the club was flooded with offers of sponsorship, eventually a deal was reached with an Irish Web Hosting Company ‘Web World’ both parties refused to disclose the value of this deal but it is believed to be a substantial sum.
Knocklyon Celtic employed the 4-4-2 formation but often changed to the 4-5-1 formation to better utilise the number of creative midfield players they had at their disposal. Brian Gartland, Derek Madden, Phil Lee, Carlos and Darren Kelly started more league games than anyone other midfield squad player over 4 seasons and were in the Knocklyon Celtic team of the decade. The club's most prolific striker was Neil Gartland who scored more than 20 goals in one season. Also of note, Ross McGouran was one of the fans favourites - often compared to a young Denis Bergkamp. McGouran retired from football in 2006.
Arguably, the strongest, most consistent performers for Knocklyon Celtic were the defence. Feargal O'Sullivan, Ger Madden (C), Graham Lee, Ronan Barrett and Nige Caden. This defence was notoriously miserly when it came to conceding goals and consistently produced performances which were an effective blend of skill, positioning and raw determination which rarely saw them beaten. Feargal O'Sullivan and Ger Madden were the centre half pairing of the decade and played more games than any other players in the club's history. In the 2005/2006 the pair collected the best defence trophy at an awards ceremony in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin to add to the league winners trophy (lifted by Ger Madden) to complete the perfect season. It has often been said that the Knocklyon midfield, although gifted in attack, were not known for it's defensive qualities and the defence often found itself having to recover from the midfield's sometimes over-exhuberent attacking.
=Players (past & present)=
*Carlos
*Philip Lee
*Graham Lee
*Ger Madden (Captain)
*Del Madden
*Feargal O'Sullivan
*Brian Gartland
*Ross McGouran
*Neil Gartland
*Mark O’Riordan
*Brian O’Riordan
*Eoughan Dillon
*Darren Kelly
*David Lavery
*Neil Caden
*Dave Lennon
*David J Agnew
*Tommy Fallon
*Aaron Massey
*Stephen Lovett
*Andy Fleming
*Ronan Barrett
*Mick Walshe
*Peter Synott
*Noddy (Ronan O’Sullivan)
*Cormac Langford
*Mark Jordan
*Brian Marconi
*JP Feeney
*Terry LoughranFamous Fans
*Larry Madden
*The Coffin DogersExternal links
* [http://www.knocklyonceltic.com Official web site]
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