Roundwood rock on
Vartry men have too much for gallant Arklow Celtic
ROUNDWOOD AFC ARKLOW CELTIC 5 2
THE last Jako Cup final of a very busy but rewarding day at Celtic Park in Arklow saw the home side come up against a very useful Roundwood AFC outfit in the U-15 Premier decider.
In the intense evening heat on the bottom pitch, both sides went at this with plenty of craft and passion and no shortage of skill and endeavour and, as in all the games during the day, the supports from both sides were rewarded with some stunning goals.
The first of those strikes arrived after 21 minutes when Andrew Watters fired home a stunning volley past Cormac Murray, giving the Arklow Celtic goalkeeper absolutely no chance of saving.
Roundwood’s Connor Fee clattered the crossbar shortly afterwards before Arklow Celtic gave their healthy support plenty to cheer about when Ronan Gilpin fired home a screamer to the top corner o Lorcan Smith’s goal to level matters after 30 minutes of very decent action.
Three minutes later, Roundwood were back in front. A John Paul Nolan free found the head of Enda Byrne who headed home delightfully.
Both sides had attacks before the break. Matt Nolan fired wide for Roundwood while Lorcan Smith gathered an Arklow Celtic free and was fouled right at the death.
Celtic enjoyed a positive start to the second half when Ciaran O’Keeffe got on the end of a good move only to fire wide in the opening seconds.
But Roundwood always looked dangerous. Yander Johnson almost caught Cormac Murray with an adventurous lob after eight min- utes but just slightly overcooked his effort and then Conor Fee pushed Roundwood further ahead with a fine goal after 10.
Celtic never stopped battling but it was clear to see that Roundwood possessed the greater goal-scoring threat. Donal Byrne had a golden chance of a goal but missed. Celtic’s Craig Caulfield got his head to a ball but Lorcan Smith was equal to it n the Roundwood goal and Ronan Gilpin brought out another save from Smith with 15 gone in the second.
As the game progressed, Roundwood were looking more and more likely to add to their tally and after 33 minutes John Paul Nolan unloaded the tidiest little lob over Cormac Murray’s head that nestled snugly in the back of the Celtic net to kill the game as a contest at 4-1.
Jakub Kurzyna did pull one back for Cetic after 37 but Enda Byrne finished the job for Roundwood on 38 to leave them 5-2 winners over a gallant Celtic side.
1. Lorcan Smith,
2. Josh Kennedy, 3. Cian Timmons, 4. Kian Johnson, 5. Ciaran Murphy, 6. Andrew Watters, 7. Yander Johnson,
8. Matt Nolan, 9. Enda Byrne, 10. John Paul Nolan, 11. Conor Fee, 12. Donal Byrne, 13. Jack Wolohan.
1. Cormac Murray,
9. Lee Walker, 7. Darragh Synnott, 10. Sean Pocu, 5. Niall Myler, 3. Jakub Kurzyna, 2. James Breen, 6. Sean Britchfield, 8. Craig Caulfield, 15. Seoirse Barnes, 4. Ryan Kavanagh,
11. Ronan Gilpin, 14. Ciaran O’Keeffe,
12. Jason Breen, 13. Emhan Molloy.