Vickers shines bright as Enniskerry triumph
Defeat to Rathnew long forgotten after sweet victory
YET again, the Wicklow Cup final of 2002, like so many before it in the previous 12 years, failed to live up to expectations, according to the report on the final in the Wicklow and Bray People newspapers of Thursday, May 30.
‘Enniskerry win Wicklow Cup’ was the somewhat tame headline that sat atop the one page of coverage afforded to the flagship competition.
A 2-0 tally was what separated the sides when referee George McWilliams sounded the final whistle in Lamberton with Enniskerry boss Tommy Leonard remarking that they really wanted to win this one after ‘letting ourselves down last year’.
‘After letting ourselves down last year against Rathnew, we very much wanted to win this one,’ he said.
‘We didn’t do ourselves justice then. But we showed we can bounce back. And we have our reward.
‘We haven’t played for two weeks but we put the training in. We learnt from our two league meetings with them. After the first goal, we played on the break. It could have been even more’.
Leonard offered huge praise for his goalkeeper David curran, defenders Davide Ebbs and Jason Byrne, towering centre half Donal Byrne and Ciaran Barry after they recroded their 11th clean sheet in all competitions at the time.
‘They are probably the best quartet in the county,’ said Leonard. ‘As a unit, there’s none better. David has done well all season,’ he added.
‘Regarding the playing of the game in Lamberton, Leonard said that it held no fear for them.
‘It’s a superb playing surface. Our own ground hasn’t been great lately. It was our third time in Lamberton in the last few weeks, so it held no fear for us,’ he said.
Arklow Town manager Pat Kinsella said that his side just didn’t take their chances.
‘We just didn’t play at all,’ he said. ‘We were playing on our own pitch and we didn’t want to lose. We just didn’t take our chances.
Kinsella referenced hampering injuries to under-21 player of the year Niall Mullet, midfielders James O’Sullivan and Alastair Crowley and top marksman Jason Kinch in his post-match comments but didn’t use that as an excuse, but it may explain the failure of the home side to score in this game.
It was Robbie Redmond who got the Enniskerry men off the mark, after 13 minutes of this game. Ciaron Barry’s run found Vickers on the right flank. His ball was helped on by McCormack and it fell to Redmond whose volley beat Emmet Byrne at his near post and rolled along the line before nestling in the net.
David Curran had prevented Town from opening the scoring five minutes before that, when the Enniskerry goalkeeper got down smartly to save from Jason Kinch’s touch from a Paul Kelty delivery.
Arklow Town lost Alastair Crowley and Jason Kinch to injury during this game but they had plenty of chances throughout this game that had at least one been taken would have drastically altered the flow of this game.
Seven minutes from the end, Enniskerry struck the killer blow. After Kinch had left the field following a tackle by Jason Byrne, Donal Byrne’s kick-out saw Christy Vickers avoid the attentions of Stuart Gleeson before firing a centre for the unmarked Clinton McCormack to score from a diving header.
The tireless Christy Vickers was awarded the man of the match award on the day and he was presented with his award by Jim McLaughlin of the Wicklow League after the game in Lamberton.
Wicklow League Chairman Tommy Devlin presented Enniskerry YC captain Donal Byrne with the Aughrim Motors Skoda Wicklow Cup.
Enniskerry YC: David Curran; Jason Byrne, David Ebbs, Ciaron Barry, Donal Byrne, Gary Kavanagh, Mark Masterson, Robbie Redmond, Clinton McCormack, Paul O’Carroll, Christy Vickers. Subs: Garreth Maloney for Masterson (83), Ronan Kelly for McCormack (90), Ian Cuddihy for Vickers (90). Not Used: Conor Lawless.
Arklow Town FC: Emmet Byrne; James Furlong, Philip Healy, Niall Mullet, Stuart Gleeson, Alan McBride, James O’Sullivan, Alastair Crowley, Jason Kinch, Glen Dowling, Paul Kelty. Subs: James Kavanagh for Crowley (46), John Quinn for Furlong (61), Richard Murphy for Kinch (65). Not used: Declan O’Brien, Anthony Hughes, Mick Byrne. Referee: George McWilliams
Assistants: Damien Hillick, Fran Martin