Fitzpatrick halts Ramblers in their tracks with leveller
RIAN FITZPATRICK poked home a 71st-minute equaliser to give Wexford F.C. a deserved point in their SSE Airtricity Under-15 Group 3 clash with Cobh Ramblers in Ferrycarrig Park recently.
The two sides had a good go at each other, with both wanting the three points for the win, but the draw was realistically the fair result.
Both sides will look to glaring misses when they had the lead as moments they would like back, but that’s football.
Wexford set up with three across the back again and Cobh were quite happy to exploit the spaces that provided on the flanks.
On the other hand Wexford mixed up their play, looking to feed the lively Harry Curtis and Dylan McEvoy on the wings, as well as seeking quick ball into the front two.
The hosts started on the front foot and forced visiting ‘keeper Ryan Gavin into a couple of tidy early saves. Liam Doyle was providing most of the problems for Ramblers with his mix of physical presence and speed proving difficult to handle.
Cobh hadn’t shown much when they won a free-kick on the edge of the area in the 29th minute. Kane Rowlands seemed to hit it well, avoided the wall but plonked his own player, Luke O’Sullivan, on the head, preventing the goal.
Just as it looked like the sides would go in level at the break, a flurry of goalmouth activity lit up the end of the half.
Wexford took the lead in the 38th minute when Doyle cut across the edge of the box and wrong-footed the Cobh ‘keeper with a fine strike from 18 yards.
Seconds later a fantastic Evan Farrell cross should have resulted in a second but this time Doyle sent the free header from six yards out over the crossbar.
Wexford paid for that miss when Bradley Walsh headed home Lee Kelly-Obi’s cross right on half-time.
Cobh were probably the better team early in the second-half and they took the lead in the 54th minute when a mistake in the home defence allowed Leon Hennessy to pounce and fire to the net from just inside the area.
With Wexford struggling to make an impression, Cobh should have wrapped up the points when Ryan McCarthy somehow kicked the ball into the ground from three yards out and it pinged over the crossbar.
They were made to pay a price for that miss when Alex Kelliher’s free-kick was kept alive by Patryk Remiasz, headed across goal by the unmarked Liam Doyle, and poked to the net from a yard out by Fitzpatrick.
Wexford continued to push for a winner in the final nine minutes and almost got one when Fitzpatrick’s cross was met by the head of Seán Adam Gourley, but Gavin kept it out to save a point for Cobh.
Wexford F.C.: Aaron Phelan; Darragh McGuire, Dylan Casey, Seán Redmond; Dylan McEvoy, Seán Adam Gourley, Micheál Quinlan, Evan Connolly, Harry Curtis; Evan Farrell, Liam Doyle. Subs. (rolling) - Patryk Remiasz, Alex Kelliher, Paddy Redmond, Conor Carew, Rian Fitzpatrick, Luke Murphy.
Cobh Ramblers: Ryan Gavin; Jake Lynch, Luke O’Sullivan, Sam O’Driscoll, Adam McCarthy; Ryan McCarthy, Kane Rowlands; Lee Kelly-Obi, Leon Hennessy, Bradley Walsh; Tiarnan O’Brien. Subs. (rolling) - Diarmuid Byrne, Colin Henderson, Adam Hastings, Brandon Idah, Eric Nolan, Kyle Harrington.
Referee: Brendan Holohan (Wexford).