CLUBCALL
The first team were involved in two games this week.
On Wednesday night they collected three valuable points in their bid to pull away from the relegation zone in the league.
Two goals a piece from Luke Byrne and Gareth Murphy secured them a vital 4-2 away victory over Glenmore/Dundrum which saw them move into a mid table position and five points clear of the drop zone.
On Sunday they entertained Kilnamanagh at the Whitegates, they went into the game under strength with a few players out.
After a tight first half with Rovers having the better chances the sides went in at the break scoreless. Rovers probed away in the second period and carved out a couple of clear cut chances but failed to take them.
With 13 minutes left, Sean Duffy scored a screamer from just outside the area for his sixth of the season to give the lads the lead, but it wasn't to last long as the away side were level within a minute.
With nine minutes remaining Rovers were reduced to 10 men and in fairness to the lads they battled to the end to gain a valuable point.
Four points from two games helps them climb into a mid table position and away from the danger area.
In the junior section, midweek action saw the under-10As record a narrow 1-0 win over St Anthony's, Calum Gibney's fifth goal of the season kept his side on course for a place in the premier shield final.
The under-11As also had a narrow 1-0 win, they defeated Ashford Rovers in the Hockey Pitch. Having already captured the Premier league title and booked their place in the Premier cup final a single goal from Max Kearney, his sixteenth of the season was enough to gain all three points in the shield and keep their quest for a treble alive.
Our 11Cs went down 3-1 away to Arklow Town B, leading scorer Conor Leonard scored the Rovers goal to bring his total to twenty seven for the campaign.
The 12As continued their assault on the division one title with their third win on the trot with an excellent 4-2 away victory over Newtown Juniors, Ben Hudson nabbed a brace to bring his total to three for the season, leading scorer Paul Marah brought his total to 19 with a single while Dylan Doyle registered his ninth for the season.
The 13As won a tight encounter with Newtown Juniors winning 1-0 in a keenly contested affair. Daniel Fitzsimons notched his 25th goal of the season to earn all three points for his team to maintain their place at the top of the league.
The other two games during the week were cup semi finals which unfortunately saw neither team have much luck, the 14Bs lost 3-1 to Arklow Town with Conor Hawes claiming his tenth of the campaign with the under-15s going down 5-0 away to a very strong Arklow Town A side.
At the weekend the junior section had very little action with only the one game taking place. On Saturday the 13Bs lost out 5-2 away to Roundwood, Fionn Matthews and Daragh Gibney netted the Rovers goals in a game which saw the lads battle to the end.
The club recently participated in a bag pack to raise money for Habitat Ireland, the bag pack took place in Tesco and was well attended by our junior members of the club.
Habitat Ireland is a Dublin based charity, which transforms lives by bringing people together to build homes, communities and hope.
The charity offers a 'hand up' to families to pull themselves out of poverty through access to simple decent housing.
President Higgins is a patron of Habitat Ireland. We would like to thank all our junior members and their managers and coaches for helping raise money for this worthy cause.
Our Saturday morning soccer academy resumes this coming Saturday, April 26 from 11am to noon on the all weather pitch in the Whitegates under the guidance of club coach Johnny Dunne. All kids from the age of three years old upwards are welcome to attend.
Everyone at Wicklow Rovers AFC would like to extend their congratulations to local referee Paul O'Brien on becoming the new president of the Irish Soccer Referees Society, it's an honour well deserved for all your hard work and commitment to your profession. We would like to wish you the best of luck in your term of office and once again congratulations Paul.
Anyone with information for the club notes or the club website can contact me at 087 9108706 or e-mail me at jimmy.nolan09@hotmail.com
For all news regarding the club, check out the club website at www.wicklowrovers.com or the
WICKLOW ROVERS AFC
SHILLELAGH UNITED LADIES FC
The ladies secured their place in the Boland Carpets Cup final last Sunday with a 3-1 victory over Tombrack Utd.
The girls played some great passing soccer and got on top of this contest from the start. Anna Nolan opened the scoring for Shillelagh in the first half when she forced home Elaine Murphy's corner. The girls continued to press on in the second half and were rewarded with a second goal when Niamh Dillon smashed the ball home from the edge of the box. Erika Dagge added the third when she fired low to the bottom corner and even a late consolation goal for Tombrack was not enough to prevent the girls booking their place in the final. Well done girls!!
Congrats to Erika Dagge and her U16 County team mates on winning the Viking Cup in Waterford, and to our former player Edel Kennedy and the Wexford Youths Ladies on reaching the National League Cup Final.
BRAY WANDERERS
Seagulls Lotto - There was no Jackpot winner on Sunday, April 20 for a jackpot of €5,125. The numbers drawn were, 9, 14, 18, and 27. The five €30 lucky winners were T O Brien c/o Glenview fc, P Bunster c/o Shamrock Boys FC, A O'Sullivan c/o C Kavanagh, J Egan c/o Glenview FC, L O'Toole, c/o V Walsh. The next draw will be on Sunday, April 27 in the Hibernia Inn with a jackpot of €5200. If anyone wishes to sell lotto tickets, please contact the club at 2828214.
Online Shop - Bray Wanderers merchandise is now available to purchase on line. The on line souvenir shop can be accessed from the Supporters club web site home page www.braywanderers.com.
2014 Season Tickets - Bray Wanderers 2014 Season Tickets are now available priced at Adult €99, Child (under 16) €49, OAP €49. For details contact the club office on 01-2828214 or email carlislegrounds@eircom.net
Travel details for Athlone match - The next away trip is to Athlone on Friday, May 2.
The Supporters Club bus will depart at 4.30pm from Castle Street shopping centre. Price for travel is €15 for adults, €10 for 16 -18 year olds (id is required) and €5 for under 16s.
Non Supporters club members will have to pay €3.00 extra, Non members can sign up on the bus or at any home match prior to the date, members are asked to bring there membership cards. if you have yet to receive your card, please call into the souvnier shop at any home match. To book a seat please text the supporters club on 087-9968969.
EA Cup - Wanderers have been drawn at home to Dundalk in the Second Round of the EA SPORTS Cup. This match will be played either on the 5th or 6th of May.
Clean Up - BWSC will be doing a Clean-Up in the Carlisle on Saturday, April 26 from 10am onwards!
All support is very welcome, so please come down if you're free and help out in any way you can!
Your Town! Your Club!
NEWTOWN JUNIORS F.C.
Numerous games have been played in the last week and we recorded three wins and two defeats from the five games played.
Our under-10s after their disappointing exit from the cup the previous week put in a five star display to take all three points at home to St. Fergal's on a 3-2 score line.
Newtown led on three different occasions thanks to goals from Laragh Davis, Darragh Heffernan and Jason Carthy-O'Reilly.
A last ditch goal line clearance from star defender Rebecca Gillian confirmed the Bray team would head home pointless.
Among the star players were Gillan, Charlie Sullivan and Sean Bishop. Well done everyone. One win and a defeat from two games for the under12s over the past week.
On Thursday evening the team were at home to table toppers Wicklow Rovers 'A' and they certainly put it up to them despite a 4-2 loss.
Josh Odlum and Jack Elliott (back after a lengthy injury lay-off) scored the Newtown goals and but for the crossbar and the Wicklow keeper they may have shared the spoils.
On Sunday morning the team travelled to Rathdrum to take on Avonmore and we are glad to report the team produced an excellent team display to take all three points with a 5-2 victory. Jack Elliott and Steven Coghlan both scored twice and Andrew McMahon completed the scoring. On the day Coghlan sustained an arm injury but after a visit to the hospital Steven was diagnosed with just a sprain, so he won't be out for too long. Best on the day were Daragh Dwyer, Conor Kavanagh and Lee Hamilton.
The under-13s had the one game last Tuesday against table topping Wicklow Rovers 'A'. This was a game keenly contested by both teams but it was Rovers who took the three points on a 1-0 scoreline. On the night Alannah Melia, Jordan Butler and Ciaran Keogh were among the players who starred.
The under-18s girls had to battle their way through heavy traffic on the M50 on Wednesday night to get to Finglas to take on WFTA in the Leinster cup semi-final.
With the game delayed by 20 minutes and us missing a couple of regulars for various reasons. All the scoring was done in the first half. The home side took the lead from the penalty spot but we equalised straight from the kick off when Juliette Fortune set up Amy Murphy to score.
Ten minutes later a lovely spin by Murphy past the centre half gave her another chance and she duly dispatched the ball to the net.
Fortune herself had a goal dais lowed when she was deemed to have fouled the WFTA goalkeeper. The second half though scoreless both sided had chances and the game was in the balance right up until the end.
The final whistle went and we had won to take our place in next Saturday's decider against Shelbourne F.C. in the Oscar Traynor Grounds.
On the night it was a game we should have put to bed earlier but among the players who played well were Katie Miley, Lucie Ashmore, Amy Murphy, Una Grogan and Olivia Flanagan.
Our under-9s participated in the Wicklow Cancer Support Soccer Blitz organised by Wicklow Town through Tony 'Butch' Doran.
Our team did very well winning three games, drawing one and losing one. Well done everyone and thank you Butch.
On the birthday front the players who are celebrating their birthdays in the coming week are Padraig Gammell from the under-8s, Jack Elliott from the 12s, Timothy Hamilton from the 13s, and last but not least Olivia Flanagan from the girl's under-18s. Happy birthday all from everyone at Newtown Juniors F.C.
The club would like to extend their deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Doreen Summers (Arklow) who sadly passed away recently. Her grandaughter Amy plays on our under-16 girl's team. May she rest in peace.
For all other queries/matters relating to the club contact Hughie at 087-6987653 or visit our Website www.newtownjuniors.com and you can also find us on Facebook.
NEWTOWN UNITED F.C.
There was joy and despair for our teams over the past week but the first piece of silverware arrived in the club at the weekend (or it didn't as the case may be). The Youth team clinched the league title on Saturday morning after a 2-0 win over neighbours St. Anthonys. Daragh Carthy and Ciaran Daly scored the Newtown goals inside the opening 20 minutes for the team who only needed a point to clinch top spot.
Well done to the whole team and to the management team of David Elliott and John Heffernan and they hope to make it a double this coming Sunday with the Cup final.
The first team bounced back from last weekend's Wicklow cup defeat to record a 4-1 victory over Wicklow Town to keep their quest for league honours right on track.
Dessie Waters scored twice while John Heffernan and Martin Williams scored the others.
The second team secured all three league points thanks to a 2-0 away win over Roundwood during the week. Vinnie McCann and Karl Carthy scored the Newtown goals.
It was disappointment however on Sunday for the team when they lost their cup semi-final away to Celtic Stars by a narrow 1-0 score line. In what was a tight game one goal was always likely to win it and so it proved. Hard luck lads.
There has been no winner in our Members Draw in the past few weeks and the jackpot will be €300 next week. Thank you to everyone for your continued support.
BRAY WHEELERS
Last Tuesday night saw the first staging of the Mondello Bikeworx series of races in Mondello Park and Craig Gilmore, Sam Gilmore and Harry Brooks both juniors rode the race.
This was handicapped and some of the groups came together early on forcing the pace up - with Sam lasting the rapid pace the longest.
This weekend saw the staging of the Gorey 3 day stage race with one sole Bray entrant flying the flag for Bray Wheelers.
Ed O’Brien rode consistently well over the 4 stages to finish in a very creditable 18th position overall.
The finish of the race was in Blessington on Easter Monday and Ed was there contesting the sprint finish with a large bunch gallop.
This is a very good result from a field of 200. So congratulations to Ed of his great result.
Sam Gilmore was the only Bray entrant in the Ras an Laois in Rathdowney, Co Laois on Sunday, riding well and finishing comfortably with the main bunch.
The previously notified Youth spins of Sunday 20th April, Sunday 4th May and Sunday 18th May spins will not now go ahead, due to clashes with other events and the youth spins now switch to Monday nights from Monday the 28th with a road spin at Shanganagh at 7.30 pm.
Bray Wheelers will host the Shay Elliott memorial race and the A3 event the SHA3 this Saturday April 26th.
If any member or previous member is free to help out with the marshalling of the event can they please contact one of the committee as all help is gratefully appreciated.
Next Thursday night sees the welcome return of the club league with the first race an interclub 11km time trial from Kilmac signing on from 7pm.