Minor misery for Wicklow lads
OFFALY WICKLOW
WICKLOW’S Minor footballers bowed out of this year’s Leinster championship at the first-round stage, going under convincingly to Offaly by 2-9 to 0-5 in Arklow on Saturday night.
The writing was on the wall from the start as the Wicklow forwards showed no cohesion when on the attack while the backs were unable to handle the brilliance of at least two Offaly forwards, Paudie Mulhaire and Roy Malone.
Ironically, the home side had the edge at midfield where Stephen Byrne was particularly dominant, fielding some great balls but unfortunately, he was fighting a losing battle.
And on too many occasions Wicklow players, after fighting hard for the ball, gave away possession too easily to a fast and furious Offaly combination that had no intention of taking any prisoners.
The only time the sides were level was in the fourth minute of the first half when Mulhaire and Anthony Cullen exchanged points.
However, full-forward Mulhaire was difficult to control and was inevitably pulled down in the square in the sixth minute. He took the penalty and made no mistake in crashing it to the net.
Wicklow corner-forward Kieran Burke took the initiative in the 13th minute to send over an opportune point – doing the kind of positive work all the forwards should have been carrying out.
Offaly tapped over a free in the 19th minute before Wicklow was struck with a second severe blow, a great goal from play from the boot of Roy Malone.
Wicklow tried to get to grips with the game but had four wides in succession before midfielder Stephen Byrne got the home side’s third point.
Offaly went on the rampage in the last six minutes of the first half with four points in succession to give them a commanding 2-7 to 0-3 lead at the interval.
On the pattern of play in the first half everyone expected the visitors to run away with the game, a feeling driven home when Offaly centre-forward Stephen Byrne sent over a point from the throw-in.
However, it was Wicklow who dominated and could well have put it up to Offaly were it not for careless kicking which saw many golden opportunites blasted wide, showing a lack of confidence among the forwards.
In fact, Wicklow had ten wides in that half, the majority of which should have been scores while Offaly registered only two wides.
The introduction of James Doyle and Brendan O hAnnaidh made a big difference to Wicklow and later on Gary Deane was introduced to the side.
But having used all their substitutes, Wicklow were unable to replace star midfielder Stephen Byrne who went off with a broken collar bone in the 22nd minute.
Wicklow’s two second-half points came from frees taken by Anthony Cullen and James Doyle but they made little difference to such a big margin on the scoreline.
The pick of the Wicklow side were Wayne Austin, Kevin Toomey, Timmy Collins, John O’Keeffe, Stephen Byrne, Jason Kinch and Kieran Blake.
Wicklow: Brian Fleming; Barry O’Donovan, Diarmuid Doran, Ryan Lavery; Wayne Austin, Kevin Toomey, Timmy Collins; John O’Keeffe, Stephen Byrne (0-1); Jason Doyle, John Smullen, Jason Kinch; Kieran Blake (0-1), Raymond Murphy, Anthony Cullen (0-2). Subs: James Doyle (0-1) for Jason Doyle, B O hAnnaidh for B Donovan, G Deane for J Smullen.