A chance for Arklow to gain revenge for 2000
WITH games concluding or ceasing across the majority of sports in the county it gives us a good chance to resume our series on the last 30 years of the Wicklow Cup. We left you with Nicky Mernagh grabbing the headlines when he helped Rathnew to the title at the expense of Enniskerry YC in Lamberton on June 10.
The then 16-year-old Nicky bagged two goals to condemn the Enniskerry men to a 3-0 defeat in a season where they were very hopeful of harvesting a clean sweep of crowns within Wicklow soccer.
We now turn our sights to the Wicklow Cup final of 2002 which was being billed as an opportunity for Arklow Town to gain revenge for their loss to Enniskerry YC in the decider of 2000 when the Youths toppled Town by 3-1.
There was no sign of Rathnew AFC A in the final due to the Lamberton side dispatching them from the competition in the
semi-final in Ferndale Park thanks to a goal from Glen Dowling and an OG to complete a 2-0 victory.
‘Town out for revenge in final’ roared the headline in the preview
in the Wicklow and Bray People newspapers that hit the shelves on the week of the big game. As previews go it was very short, about a third of a page, which was strange given the fact that presumably there would have been ample time to contact both clubs and arrange for photos and the likes, unlike this season’s final (2020), when one of the semi-finals was concluded on a Sunday evening with the final the following weekend.
One of the main talking points ahead of the Wicklow Cup decider of 2020 was the fact that the event was being held at Arklow Town’s grounds in Lamberton due to the Carlisle Grounds being unavailable.
There were strong suggestions that this would give the home side an unfair advantage but the Wicklow League must have had no alternatives.
Enniskerry YC enjoyed a bye in the opening round of the competition before scraping past Lens United in the second round after penalties (3-0).
The game had finished 1-1 at the end of extra-time with Clinton McCormack scoring for the winners.
A thumping 7-1 victory over St Fergal’s followed. Christy Vickers bagged a hat-trick, Mark Masterson scored two goals while there were singles from Mccormack and Brian Quinn.
Their semi-final against Shillelagh United was played in Finlay Park, Wicklow town, after it had been postponed the week beforehand.
Two second-half penalties from Robbie Redmond helped the Berryfield men to get past the Shillelagh side. Christy Vickers opened the scoring after 18 minutes before teenager Ronan Kelly made it 2-0 before half-time.
David Caffrey’s low drive found Pat Butler who stabbed the ball home between two defenders to pull one back for Shillelagh but those two Redmond penalties were enough to kill off the Shillelagh challenge and send Enniskerry back to yet another Wicklow Cup final.
Arklow Town had a bye in their first round as well before seeing off Conary United 3-0 at home with Jason Kinch, Glen Dowlling and Brian Byrne getting on the scoresheet forn the Lamberton men.
A pair of beauties from Jason
Kinch helped them navigate their way past a tough away fixture against Shamrock Bhoys before they stormed past Enniskerry YC B in the quarter-final thanks to goals from Niall Mullet, James O’Sullivan, Anthony Hughes, Paul Kelty, Glen Dowling and Jason Kinch.
And then it was on to the semi-final, and standing in their way were the defending champions, Rathnew AFC A, who had former Bray Wanderers star Tommy Gill named on their panel ahead of the game. However, the Rathnew and Wicklow GAA star would play no part in the game.
It was a Glen Dowling thunderbolt on the half hour that gave Town the boost they needed to get over this difficult hurdle and the strike then watched as his late effort was deflected home by Rathnew midfielder Damien Power to put the tie beyond the Villagers.
The reporter on the day awarded the man of the match award to Power, saying that the Rathnew man just edged out Arklow Town’s Alastair Crowley for the honour.