Robinson goal sinks Wexford
Kerry edge a tight encounter
WEXFORD F.C. KERRY LEAGUE 0 1
AN 11th minute goal from Dillon Robinson condemned Wexford F.C. to defeat in a tight SSE Airtricity League Southern Elite section encounter at Ferrycarrig Park on Saturday.
Martin Coughlan whipped in a corner-kick from the right and Robinson rose unchallenged to powerfully head the ball to the corner of the net.
Wexford had gone close to getting their noses in front three minutes earlier when Brandon Deady dragged a shot just wide of the right post having been found by Caellum Travers-Devlin.
Moments later Deady had another sight of goal but he couldn’t get a telling connection on Adham Masood’s pass.
Wexford were then rocked back on their heels when Robinson headed the visitors in front but they soon regrouped and in the 13th minute Masood saw his shot comfortably saved by Robert Osbourne. Chances were few and far between with two well-marshalled defences having the upper hand, but Wexford came oh so close to grabbing an equaliser on 31 minutes.
Oscar Smith played a neat onetwo with Ciarán Paige and was desperately unlucky to see his delicate shot strike the far upright.
The hosts began the second-half on the front foot and Adham Masood had an early effort on goal, but a deflection took the sting out of the shot.
On 58 minutes Masood floated a free to the far post, but Brandon Deady could only find the side-netting from a tight angle.
However, Kerry had a wonderful opportunity to put the game to bed with ten minutes remaining when substitute Boki Nikic rolled the ball into the path of the lively Kevin Williams, but he blazed his shot wide of the post.
The miss almost proved to be a costly one when Cian Foley got on the end of a Masood corner and powered a close-range header on target in the 84th minute, but it was brilliantly saved by Kerry netminder Robert Osbourne.
A minute later Wexford were dealt a crushing blow when Caellum Travers-Devlin was dismissed after picking up a second yellow card, although Oscar Smith did have an effort on target in the 90th minute after being found by a precision pass from Cian Foley.
Kerry almost put the icing on the cake in injury time, but Wexford goalkeeper Colum Feeney did brilliantly to tip a rasping Bokic Nikic drive onto the crossbar. WEXFORD FC: Colum Feeney, Kian Kerr, Conor Signorelli, Reece Murphy, Nathan O’Connor, Cian Foley, Oscar Smith, Caellum Travers-Devlin (capt.), Adham Masood, Ciarán Paige, Brandon Deady. Subs. - Jack Gallagher for Kerr, Liam Berry for Paige, Stephen Kearns for Deady, also Jason Daly, Patrick Barron, Michael Walsh. KERRY DISTRICT LEAGUE: Robert Osbourne, Michael O’Gara, John Ward, Seán Carmody (capt.), Ronan Cahill, Sheagh O’Connor, Kevin Williams, John Hayes, Dillon Robinson, Martin Coughlan, Adria Miravet. Subs. - Boki Nikic for Miravet, Sebastien Vasiu for O’Gara, Thomas Burke for Robinson, also Shane Jordan, Adam O’Donoghue, Alex O’Connor. REFEREE: Seán Grant.