Rathnew AFC A book Bishop Cup final spot
Game abandoned late on
REPORTS suggest that Rathnew AFC C have been removed from the Wicklow league by the club following their behaviour in the Charlie Bishop Cup semi-final against fellow Villagers Rathnew AFC A last Saturday evening.
What had been a hotly contested Charlie Bishop Cup semi-final for almost 100 minutes last Saturday evening in Shamrock Park descended into something resembling anarchy in the space of about four minutes following the awarding of a penalty to the A team by referee David Jameson.
With the game poised nicely at 2-2 on the full-time whistle, both teams emerged for extra-time with penalties looking like a real possibility at that stage.
But eight minutes into the first half of extra-time Rathnew A’s Ross Bushe gathered the ball in the Rathnew AFC C square and he brought the ball into contact with both Stuart Murphy from the rear and Eddie Doyle from the front and it looks like it may have been a trip on Bushe which caused David Jameson to award the penalty.
Following Jameson’s signalling of the spot kick Eddie Doyle retrieved the ball from around the goals and then seemed to throw the ball in the direction of the referee.
This led to the first red card of the game.
Things settled down slighty as Mark Doyle placed the ball for the penalty kick. He took his long walk back and ran up and planted the ball sweetly past Tommy Dunne in the Rathnew AFC C goal to give his side a 3-2 lead.
However, this is where things became slightly out of control. Enraged by the penalty decision, several Rathnew AFC C players began to vent their anger towards the referee and with some already on yellow cards they began to receive red cards from the besieged Jameson.
Evetually the C team were left with just six players on the field and according to official rules the game cannot continue if there are less than seven players on the field for any one team, so David Jameson was left with no choice but to abandon the game and award victory to the A side.
It was a real shame that the game ended in this manner. There had been a bit of an edge to the clash up to that point but nothing out of the ordinary in a local battle such as this.
In fact, prior to the penalty decision, the C team were in a good place and had led for a large part of the game after Stuart Murphy and John Sayer had goaled in reply to Mark Doyle’s rocket in the opening stages of the game; a goal that also angered the C players who felt that Stuart Murphy had been impeded prior to Doyle unleashing his missile.
16 action packed minutes of the second half had ensued with Rathnew AFC C leading by 2-1 before David Jameson fired home from close range to level things up and set us on course for an exciting finale and, ultimately, extra-time.
Rathnew AFC A: 1. Daragh Hosey, 2. Shane Magee, 3. Richard Kavanagh, 4. David Jameson, 5. Theo Smith, 6. Tony Smullen, 7. Chris Gregory, 8. Ross Bushe, 9. Mark Doyle, 10. James Kavanagh, 11. Jody Merrigan. Subs: 12. Paddy Owens, 13. Barry Mernagh, 14. Ross Quinn, 15. Colin Jameson.
Rathnew AFC C: 1. Tommy Dunne, 2. Jordan Pettigrew, 3. Philly O’Neill, 4. John Sayer, 5. Jordan Quinn, 6. Eddie Doyle, 7. Ivan Kelly, 8. Nigel Darragh, 9. Stuart Murphy, 10. Jamie Shea, 11. Jordan Graham. 12. Dale Franey, 13. Jamie O’Connor, 14. Ken Doyle.
Referee: David Jameson