A STUNNING STRIKE
Magic Massey rocket fires Rathnew to Jako Cup crown
RATHNEW AFC WICKLOW ROVERS B 4 3
THE finest goal scored across the globe last Saturday may well have been fired in by Rathnew’s Dylan Massey right at the death of the superb clash of the Village under-13 side and the gallant warriorsof Wicklow Rovers B in Celtic Park in the U-13s A1 Premier Jako Cup final.
With the sides tied at 3-3 following a belter of a game that had witnessed Cole Byrne secure a scintillating hat-trick which included a magically struck penalty kick to the top left corner of Aaron Nolan’s goal and an audacious lob from the talented Rory Jenkinson who looked to have struck the ball from as far back as the nearby NCT Centre.
The rock called Kara Doyle was where the Wicklow Rovers attack perished on more than one occasion and her defensive capabilities along with those of Alex Earls can rightly be applauded as one of the key factors in what was a glorious win for the Rathnew side.
here were seven minutes on the clock when Cole Byrne struck for the first of his three beauties. Showing sweet feet in the box, Byrneswung the left peg at the ball and sent it cruising past Aaron Nolan in the Rovers goal for the game’s opener.
Jenkinson stepped up three minutes later with his outstanding lob that sailed over the head of Midnan Manjo in the Rathnew goal.
A flowing game of football followed until the 24th minute when Cole Byrne made an awful nuisance of himself in the Rovers box again and he walloped home his second goal to the delight of the large crowd of Rathnew supporters who made the journey down for this game.
Ben Bowen converted a cross from Adam Byrne late in the opening half, but Cole Byrne was on hand right at the death to prople Rathnew back in front when he lashed home a penalty top the top corner of the Rovers net. What a game!
A fully warranted penalty after 10 minutes of the second half that was slotted coolly by Peter Dunne to ll Rovers back level with Rathnew and on raged the battle until the ball broke to the onrushing Dylan Massey who came on to a beautifully bouncing ball and he connected with it as sweetly as he will ever connect with a ball and off it sailed to the top corner of Aaron Nolan’s net.
If a goal such as this was to win the World Cup, then football fans would rejoice. Those fortunate enough to see it last Saturday in Celtic Park certainly won’t forget it for a long time to come. Bravo young man. And Bravo Rathnew, and Wicklow Rovers B. An excellent game of football!
1. Midnan Manjo, 2. AJ Power, 3. Alex Earls, 4. Kara Doyle,
5. Sidharrdh Santhosh, 6. Michael Cash, 7. Max Guillimet, 8. Cole Byrne,
9. Josh Merrigan, 10. Conor Snell, 11. Bill Moorehouse, 12. Dylan Massey,
13. Brandon Eager, 14. Ben Flynn,
15. Adam O’Toole, 16. Alex Doyle, 17. Jamie Moorehouse Hayden.
1. Aaron Nolan,
2. Tom Phelan, 3. Cian Leonard, 4. Cormac Waldron, 5. Kacper Lepek,
6. Peter Dunne, 7. Adam Byrne, 8. Harry Tobin-Kelly, 9. Charlie Phelan,
10. Ruairi Jenkinson, 11. Ben Bowen,
12. Eoin McEvoy, 13. Oliver Lawless.