Major hope after mighty Minor show
PROBABLY the most pleasing aspect of the victory by the Wicklow Minor footballers over Longford is the fact that this is a squad of quality footballers all the way from goalkeeper Jack Sargent to Conor Fee who came on for the outstanding Joe Prendergast after 64 minutes.
Yes, Paddy Dalton’s side lost their way a small bit in the last quarter against a team that certainly seemed somewhat below their best but when you’re leading 4-13 to 2-7 and you’ve played on a different level for three-quarters of the game you might be forgiven for taking your foot off the pedal ever so slightly.
But every single young man out on the field last Saturday afternoon in Aughrim is a quality footballer. The aforementioned Jack Sargent came to Wicklow’s rescue on numerous occasions, Matt Nolan swooped in to win the first real dangerous ball, and, like Luke O’Brien and Austin Brennan, was relentless.
Wicklow’s half-back line was excellent. Team captain Mikey O’Rourke followed up a fine performance in the county Minor final with another class shift, this time for his county. Coolkenno’s Liam O’Neill is overflowing with ability while Noah Sheridan’s pace and momentum from the half-back line is an incredible asset for any team to have.
Dan Cooney and Jack Kirwan are two strong young players in the middle of the field and either side of the class Prendergast are the sublime Finn Treacy and Cathal Baker. This line chipped in with 3-1 over the course of the hour, not half bad to be fair.
In Rathnew’s Eoin Doyle, Wicklow have a star full-forward in the truest sense of the position. He can win dirty ball and then make his magic happen, and off both feet, inside or further out. He is a joy to watch.
In the corners Tom Keogh and JP Nolan shone brightly all day, with Nolan’s last point a thing of real beauty.
And then you consider who
came in off the bench. Joe Mills, the star of the Minor football final, Charlie Cruise, the superb Daniel Silk-Fetherson and Conor Fee. And not forgetting who didn’t come in – the likes of Mark Evans, Conor Murphy and Niall Sheehan – and you have to hand it to Paddy Dalton, Tony Hannon, Padraig Murphy and Chris Brady for gathering and inspiring this talented crew.
Longford were in trouble from the moment Matt Nolan pounced for their first seeking ball. Wicklow attacked down the bank side towards the Rednagh Hill end.
Jack Kirwan bombed in a long ball that was cleverly flicked back by JP Nolan to Tom Keogh. Eoin Doyle had anticipated this and was on the move. Keogh fed him and the ball was in the bottom corner of the Longford net in a flash. Super start.
Tom Keogh made it 1-1 to 0-0 before the excellent Micheal Hynes pounced on indecision in the Wicklow defence to fire home past Jack Sargent.
Finn Treacy might have goaled moments later but his shot flew high and crashed of the outside of the upright and went wide. Eoin Doyle swung over a free after a foul on JP Nolan.
It was all Wicklow at this stage. Longford could find no way past
the Wicklow half-back line and midfield and another Eoin Doyle point was followed by two wides and a shot dropped short to Longford keeper Shane Quinn to take us to the water break with Paddy Dalton’s men leading by 1-3 to 1-0.
Josh Sorohan grabbed Longford’s first point after 17 but then Wicklow grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and went on to add seven unanswered points through Eoin Doyle (five, two frees), Mikey O’Rourke and Tom Keogh with one of Doyle’s efforts being preceded by a scandalous dummy before he split the posts from way out on the bank side. 1-10 to 1-2 at the break.
Things got better after the restart when Finn Treacy fired over after Prendergast had struck the crossbar and Eoin Doyle pointed a free.
Longford rallied, adding 1-1 before JP Nolan got Wicklow back up and running with a great score after eight minutes, 1-13 to 2-3.
And then Joe Prendergast pounced for two goals in as many minutes, sickening the Longford challenge to the core. The Éire Óg man is a serious threat to any defence and any mistakes will be punished ruthlessly. His first came about after patient play from midfielder Dan Cooney. Prendergast was key to the move, receiving off
Cooney, finding Tom Keogh and then Keogh dealt with the pressure of heavy traffic before dinking the ball over the top to Prendergast who had cleverly continued his run and the Éire Óg man slid home sweetly.
The reporters at the game barley had this score noted when he had the ball in the back of the net again. A devastating blow for Longford, manna from heaven for Paddy Dalton and his management team on the sideline.
Longford recovered well enough, bagging the next three points but Cathal Baker was on hand to collect Tom Keogh’s effort that came back off the upright and finish for Wicklow’s forth goal to make it 4-13 to 2-6 after 16 minutes.
Micheal Hynes made it 4-13 to 2-7 just before the water break and the visitors outscored Wicklow by 1-2 to 0-1 in the last quarter while the home side have Jack Sargent to thank for making several excellent saves that could have made the last few minutes more tense than they should have been.
Wicklow’s JP Nolan stoked over the last score of the game off his left after being found by a pass from the excellent Mikey O’Rourke.
It’s Offaly next for Wicklow in the Leinster championship on Wednesday evening, October 28. Hopes will be high going into this game but at this grade every game has to be taken on its own merits and treated as an isolated event.
All that can be certain is that these young players will go on to represent their clubs and hopefully their county for many years to come and at a very high standard as well.
Jack Sargent; Matt Nolan, Luke O’Brien, Austin Brennan; Mikey O’Rourke (0-1), Liam O’Neill, Noah Sheridan; Dan Cooney, Jack Kirwan; Finn Treacy (0-1), Joe Prendergast (2-0), Cathal Baker (1-0); Tom Keogh (0-2), Eoin Doyle (1-8, 5f), JP Nolan (0-2). Subs: Joe Mills for T Keogh (53), Charlie Cruise for D Cooney (55), Daniel Silk-Fetherson for JP Nolan (62), Conor Fee for J Prendergast (64).
Shane Quinn; Dylan Reilly, Oisin O’Toole, Diarmuid Farrel; Kevin Tansey (0-2), Darragh Finglass, Sean Morgan; Ben Lynn, Mark Odukoya; Ronan Courtney, Jason Glancy, Harvey Myhill; Emmet Brady (1-2, 1f), Micheal Hynes (1-3 (1f), Josh Sorohan (0-2). Subs: Conor Smith for J Glancy (37), James Galligan for D Reilly (37), Matt Duffy for H Myhill (40), Ruairi Corcoran (1-0) for M Odukoya (42), John McCormack for J Sorohan (55).
Kieran Harris