The highs and lows of the Jako Cup finals
Town cap off a mighty week with Jako Cup crown
WICKLOW TOWN’S under-16s got the better of their Avonmore counterparts in the Under-16 Premier Division Jako Cup final thanks to a strong and capable performance at Celtic Park in Arklow.
It was a week to remember for the Town side as they can add their Jako Cup crown to the Under-16 Coral Leisure Arklow Premier Division title which they secured earlier in the week and they look to be a team that can certainly go places if they stick at it.
They were made to work very hard for the win by a dogged Avonmore side who always seemed to be firefighting in this game against a squad of players who were strong on the ball and always looking to create openings.
Wicklow Town laid siege on the Avonmore goal for the opening half with the exceptional throw-in talents of Mark Whelan and a glut of corner kicks putting Avonmore under heavy pressure for the opening half hour.
Town broke the deadlock in the 36th minute when a Whelan throw reached the head of substitute Jack Meaney and he headed it sweetly to the bottom corner for a beautiful goal.
Jack Fox followed Meaney’s effort up with a fantastic strike from outside the Avonmore box, but his accuracy was just off, and the ball screamed wide of Conor Nolan’s post.
Credit to Avonmore they stuck to their guns and were rewarded moments later when Luke Kearney got on the end of a Cody Reid corner to head home at the far post to make it 1-1 on the cusp of half-time.
Whelan’s long throws were a constant scourge and Jamie Noble almost profited from one such bomb, but he fired over from what was a decent chance.
The Wicklow Town pressure was almost constant at this stage and the dam had to give way at some stage and the Avonmore’s failure to deal with a corner allowed Luke Kelly the chance to pounce and toe-poke it home to the back of the net.
Avonmore battled bravely for the remainder of the game but that weakness under the inswinging ball came back to bit them when Scott Sheridan rushed in to connect with a corner. Sheridan’s strike was sensationally saved by Conor Nolan, but Sheridan had the easiest task to wallop home the rebound.
Avonmore attacked late on, but Chris Doyle pulled off a fine reflex save to keep the tally at 3-1 and that was how it would stay.
Wicklow Town: 1. Chris Doyle,
2. Mark Whelan, 3. Nicolas Flood,
4. Callum Kelly, 5. Jamie Noble,
6. Scott Sheridan, 7. Jack Fox,
8. Craig Anderson, 9. Nathan Sullivan, 10. Dylan Kavanagh, 11. Cian Kelly. Subs: 12. Troy Sutton,
13. Jack Meaney, 14. Luke Kelly,
15. Alex Glynn. Avonmore FC: 1. Conor Nolan,
2. Conor Cranley, 3. Danny Morley,
4. Drew Murray, 5. Luke Kearney,
6. John Porter, 7. Andrew Brancato, 8. Cody Reid, 9. Alex Olohan, 10. Cian Ward, 11. Cormac McGraynor. Subs: 12. Ryan Doyle,
14. Aaron Nolan. Referee: Keith Neville