A MUCH improved performance by Celtic saw them leading 1-0 at the break against Champions New Oak on Sunday morning. Oak showed their intentions early when following good work by Sean Kelly he saw his cross just headed over by James White on nine minutes. Six minutes later William Kinsella for the Boys put the ball through from midfield to White but again he was just off target with his attempt just wide.

Celtic were not overawed by their opponents and began to settle into the game putting together some good passing movements. For their efforts they were awarded a free kick from 30 yards out from the Boys goal and with excellent vision Michael O'Leary dropped the ball over the Boys goalkeeper, Dale Kearney and just under the crossbar for the opening goal. That goal shocked the Boys out of their casual approach to Celtic who are languishing at the bottom of the table.

Working more through midfield play, Paul Broderick was unlucky not to have equalised for New Oak when he cracked a shot off the Celtic cross. Burrin never gave up the chase and Marcin Bieniasz with his left foot volleyed a shot just over.

Play was now moving end to end and White for New Oak went close for the equaliser when he headed just over. At the other end Sebastian Balut had an excellent chance of doubling Celtic advantage from close range but his shot was just wide of the upright and the score line remained 1-0 to Burrin at the break.

In the second half New Oak went all out to make amends for first half misses James White was again in the tick of the action forcing an excellent save from the Celtic goalkeeper, James Foley, who was forced to turn the ball past the upright for a corner from White's attempt.

The Boys kept plugging away and on 60 minutes Sean Gannon broke the off side trap to gor one on one with the Celtic goalkeeper, but Foley brought off another excellent save. Two minutes later, however they made the breakthrough when Stevie Purcell who was having an excellent game on the right side shook off his markers to cross for White to finish for the equaliser.

Again Celtic never gave up the chase and shortly afterwards Matty Dowling went close to restoring their lead when he greased the cross bar with his powerful shot. The Champions now had to contend with Celtic playing the off side trap almost to perfection, enough for the Boys Broderick to have a goal disallowed for off side. Then following great work again by Purcell who managed to cross the ball in on 78 minutes for White to put his side ahead 2-1 with an excellent header. New Oak should have further widened the gap before the end when following good play down the right Seamie Doran from only four yards headed over.

Stevie Purcell in defence, Sean Gannon in centre half and James White up front had excellent performances for New Oak Boys. From a much improved Burrin Celtic, Garreth Treacy, Sebastian Balut, Michael O'Leary and Matty Dowling put in top-drawer performances.

Crettyard United 2 Stretford United 1

DESPITE THE absence of regular and dependable custodian Sean Maher, Stretford hadn't read the supposed script for this encounter.

Stretford went ahead when the Crettyard defence failed to clear a clever Gary Powell free kick and allowed the ball to reach the predatory Mick Doyle on the edge of the area and he guided his shot beyond John Graham to give Stretford the lead on five minutes.

The predicable Crettyard response saw a continuous stream of Crettyard attacks falter because Stretford's twin defensive towers of P.J. Connolly and Gary Powell marshalled a no nonsense defence which limited clear-cut scoring chances to the minimum with David Lynch going closest to equalising.

The Carlow based Stretford relied on welltimed attacks to relieve the pressure and occasionally won a corner and from one of these the Crettyard defence was caught sleepwalking as the introduced and unattended Conor Dooley blazed over from a good position on 26 minutes.

Another Stretford score might have made it a very different game but Crettyard remained patient in their approach play without finding the key to unlock the visitors defence until 29 minutes when Chrístóir Maher and midfield maestro Chris Osborne combined to set up Brendan Fox to equalise with a firm header. In the few unsettled moments after conceding a score defences can be at their most vulnerable and this nearly proved to be the case as Stretford found themselves defending in numbers but fell behind when David Lynch stroked a shot to the visitors net just on the stroke of half time.

Crettyard must have been asking themselves questions at half time as Brendan Fox galloped through an un-attentive Stretford defence but the United keeper managed to beat the ball out but only to the feet of David Lynch who lifted his shot wide of a gaping target. AS the game progressed, Crettyard became more cautious with a defence and midfield sector dovetailing effectively to control the speedy Stretford forward line. But as the game progressed there could be little doubt that it was the visitors defence which was much the busier unit with Eugene Keating making a number of excellent interventions and saves to prevent Crettyard's impressive Lee Quay's and David Lynch adding to their advantage.

Best for Crettyard included Chris Osborne, Chrístóir Maher, Ray Buggy and Brendan Fox. Most impressive for Stretford included Garry Powell, Mick Doyle, Kieran Dollard and John Ryan.

Kilree Celtic 3 Hanover Harps 6

HAVING RECENTLY dropped a clanger in their pursuit of divisional leaders Crettyard, Hanover were on fire straight from the kick off.

Harps went ahead as early as seven minutes when their Alan Shaw skilfully evaded a tackle before racing down the wing before delivering an inch perfect cross which allowed Benny Kavanagh the easiest of scores. The following exchanges saw little let up of the pressure on the Kilree defence with Phil Neenan, Benny Kavanagh and Mark Kelly all going close to adding to their misery before Hanover were awarded a penalty on 38 minutes.

However, Kilree received a welcome boost when Paul Dowling angled his conversion sent wide but there was little respite for Kilree with Hanover's Benny Kavanagh picking out brother Sean in a crowded goalmouth to deliver a fine header to the Kilree net on 44 minutes.

During the third quarter, Kilree mustered a scoring response before Hanover's Mick Corcoran arrived late at the far post to tap in a Sean Kavanagh cross.

The game appeared to be over as a serious contest when Mark Carpenter met Paul Dowling's corner perfectly for Hanover's fourth on 66 minutes.

Perhaps it was all to easy for Hanover but Kilree registered a pulse with a couple of well taken scores within ten minutes but this only encouraged Hanover to re-establish their authority with Mark Carpenter scoring twice during the closing exchanges to secure his hat-trick and complement the earlier efforts of Mark Kelly, Jason Murphy, Kevin Griffin and Alan Shaw.