Roundwood see off gallant Newtown side

and were doing well for the most part but Roundwood looked the more dangerous of the two sides with Darragh Fee striking the crossbar after 10 minutes.

Roundwood’s Reece Scott brought the best out of Kyle Gailz in the Newtown goal after 14 minutes but Newtown were asking their own questions when Ryan Smillie and Alex Kelly combined but Kelly’s shot was blocked superbly by Kyle Graham.

Newtown then levelled matters when an Andrew McMahon corner was finished to the back of the Roundwood net by a Roundwood defender after 20 minutes but this was as good as it got for the Newtown side.

Five minutes later Kyle Graham headed home to make it 2-1 and on the stroke of half-time Newtown suffered the killer blow when Jordan Brady was picked out by an excellent Kyle Graham free-kick and Brady finished with aplomb.

It didn’t take long for Roundwood to build on their 3-1 lead after the restart. 120 seconds in and Jordan Brady unleashed a screamer to the back of the Newtown net.

There’s very little a team can do when their opponents are on a roll like Roundwood were on in the second half of this game and further goals from Kyle Graham, from a free after 18 minutes of the second half, and Bobby Brady close to the end, gave Roundwood a fully deserved victory on the day.

Roundwood: 1. Dylan Cummins, 2. Roan Hayes, 3. Jamie Lambe, 4. Marc Walsh, 5. Kyle Graham, 6. Dale Brady, 7. Bobby Brady, 8. Jordan Brady, 9. Darragh Fee, 10. Reece Scott, 11. Ben Hanway. Subs: 12. Niall Byrne, 13. Luke Kenny, 14. Kian Brady, 15. Kian Johnson. Manager: Jason Walsh.

Newtown: 1. Kyle Taite, 2. Ciáran Mangan, 3. Seán Douglas, 4. Conor Kavanagh, 5. Stephen Doran, 6. Ross Quinn, 7. Josh Odlum, 8. Alex Kelly, 9. Ryan Smillie, 10. Andrew Waters, 11. Andrew McMahon. Subs: 12. Ryan Lotts, 13. Luke Synnott, 14. Ben Ryan. A special word must be offered to the organisers of the WDSL finals weekend in Woodlands in Greystones.

Organisers who put their time and efforts into making these events happen and run smoothly rarely get the thanks they deserve but the team of Peter Porter, Fran Copeland, Brian Kavanagh, Mary Browne, Joanne Browne, and Jimmy Hackett should be praised after this two-day soccer extravaganza.

The weather helped, that’s for sure, and they committee probably can’t take any credit for that, but they can take credit for the smooth running of the event, the ease at which the medal presentations took place after each title was decided, the perks on the day like the barbecue, and the general good feeling that pervaded at the Greystones venue.

Another word of thanks to the referees who, for the most part, had a fairly uncomplicated two days of officiating.

Thanks to the men in black, the event ran off very well with only one or two negatives arising from the event.

It’s easy to knock those who put these events and those who run soccer leagues and GAA leagues and commitees and county boards but they do deserve praise every now and again!