Ross Celtic dent North End’s hopes
NORTH END United rattled the final fence and are suddenly looking vulnerable on the home straight after hosts New Ross Celtic shocked the Wexford Football League Youth Premier Division leaders on Wednesday.
The Hollygrove boys needed victory over inconsistent Ross to secure the title, having slipped up against Gorey Rangers eleven days earlier.
They might have expected a fairly straightforward night, after beating their opponents 4-0 at home, but the hosts had other ideas.
From very early in the contest it was evident that this was going to be close. New Ross were playing their final game of the season with nothing more than pride on the line, but they clearly didn’t want any North End party on their turf.
They set about this task in a hugely impressive manner. This was no fluke smash and grab, as it was a fairly even contest in which Celtic looked to play football, keen to feed their attacking players with accurate, quick passes.
They also bossed set-pieces at both ends of the field and that was probably the most important facet of this game. They scored both goals from corners and, with Kyle Martin positive between the posts, they rarely looked like conceding.
North End shaded the opening 15 minutes, and Shane Clancy saw his volley deflected just over the crossbar.
However, Kyle Wall went even closer at the other end in the 19th minute when his shot was deflected onto the foot of the post by Stuart Hession.
It was from the resulting corner that Wall swung in that New Ross opened the scoring, with a combination of Matej Stapnek and defender Harry Kehoe diverting the ball past Evan Roche.
North End weren’t behind for long. In the 24th minute, Jamie Dawson slipped Ciarán Carthy into the clear and, though Martin saved his initial low shot with his foot, it spun back into the air and Carthy was able to head over the recovering defenders and into the net.
The longer the first-half went on, the more United got on top, however, they couldn’t find a way past Martin and it was all change in the second period. While North End huffed and puffed, they rarely created clearcut chances.
In fact it was Ross Celtic who went close on the hour mark when Anthony O’Connor headed Wall’s corner onto the crossbar.
If ever a warning wasn’t heeded it was that one, as ten minutes later O’Connor rose in the exact same spot to power Wall’s right-wing centre into the net.
North End did up the tempo in the remaining 20 minutes, but New Ross held firm to take the surprise win. The Wexford town club need to beat Moyne Rangers at home in their final game to wrap up the title. NEW ROSS CELTIC: Kyle Martin; Tony Murphy, John Grace, Anthony O’Connor, Liam Doocey; Rory O’Connor, Jamie Malone; Darragh McDonald, Keane Walsh, Matej Stapnek; Kyle Wall. Subs. - Daniel Kuda for Doocey (61), Jake O’Gorman for McDonald (77), also Evan Culleton, Dustin Del Piro.
NORTH END UNITED: Evan Roche; Stuart Hession, Harry Kehoe, Liam Godkin, Jack Foley; John Hore, Ciarán Carthy (capt.), Niall Connolly, Jamie Dawson; Shane Clancy, Cian Kinlough. Subs. - Jack Wilde for Dawson (46), Kyle Turner for Hore (78), Gloudie Makiese for Hession, inj. (90+1), also Rocko Stako.
REFEREE: Anthony Tobin.