Weak U-19s hit for six
WEXFORD F.C. 0 GALWAY UNITED 6
IT WILL be no surprise if all involved with this Wexford F.C. team take a minute to sit back and exhale this week. It has been a long season in the SSE Airtricity Under-19 Southern Elite League but it’s finally over.
In reality, it ended how it started in Ferrycarrig Park on Sunday - with a crushing home loss. However, heading into this weekend and the knockout shield it really doesn’t matter if you won once and finished last in the table, or if you racked up 31 points and missed out on the cup quarters on the last day of the season.
Right now everyone is at zero and, apart from an understandable lack of confidence with some, it’s a level playing field.
Wexford will host Shelbourne this weekend with the chance to get their second win of the season and build some momentum in the shield.
The Dublin side aren’t exactly setting the world alight themselves.
They finished ninth of eleven in the northern section and are not in great form either, so if Wexford boss James Quinn was looking for a little luck, then this draw might just provide it.
There wasn’t much to be had against a rampant Galway side. Wexford were calling for a foul on Yaw Aboagye in the box in the first few minutes but no penalty was forthcoming, and then when Dylan Wall missed a one-on-one it just felt like it could be one of those days again.
Failing to deal with long balls has hurt Wexford this season and it came back to bite them again. On the quarter-hour mark, Caoilfhionn O’Dea raced through and scored, and Wilson Waweru did the same five minutes later.
A defensive error allowed Michael Whelan in to make it 3-0 just after the half-hour mark, and Joe Carmody added a fourth as the game moved towards the interval.
The hosts did re-group at the break and gave it a go.
Mark Greaney made a fantastic save from Dylan Wall from Ciarán Murphy’s cross and twice denied Aboagye when he got in one-onone with the Galway stopper. After brushing off the best the hosts had to offer, Harry Rogers scored twice in a minute to complete the rout.
The shield game against Shelbourne is tentatively scheduled for Sunday at Ferrycarrig Park but, at the time of going to press, the Under-15s were also pencilled in at home on the same afternoon, so one or the other could change or be moved.
Wexford F.C.: Colum Feeney; Craig O’Reilly, Ciarán Paige, Liam Berry, Danny Bruce, Cian Larkin (capt.), Shane Cahill, Adham Masood, Dylan Wall, Ciarán Murphy, Yaw Aboagye. Sub. - Liam Evans for Masood (46).
Galway United: Mark Greaney; Ronan Asgari, Michael Whelan, Calym Crowe, Aaron Leggett, Caoilfhionn O’Dea, Joe Thompson, Joe Carmody, Matthew Barrett, Evan Reen, Wilson Waweru. Subs. - Seán Hughes for Barrett (46), Harry Rogers for Leggett (46), Chris Horgan for O’Dea (57).
Referee: Brian Fenlon (Wexford).