Poor year ends on a bright note with win
Wexford beat Athlone with goals from Dobbs and Walsh
THE SECOND season for Wexford F.C. was every bit as underwhelming as the first, but at least it ended on a positive note in Ferrycarrig Park on Friday when the loyal supporters were treated to a rare win in the final game of the SSE Airtricity League First Division campaign.
First-half goals from the twin strike force of Aaron Dobbs and Dean Walsh meant that the home side finished with 17 points in ninth position from ten contestants, ten above the midlanders and twelve below Cobh Ramblers.
In the eight-team league in 2017, they also ended second-last, just two points above Athlone on that occasion with a total of 19 after a 28-game campaign, compared to 27 this time around.
And as the club faces into what must be one of the longest breaks between seasons worldwide, with five months of inactivity to come, there is certainly plenty to ponder.
In my view they are locked in a classic Catch 22 situation as, on the one hand they clearly don’t have the squad capable of competing in the upper half of the table but, with such poor results and a paltry budget, the chances of attracting players of a higher calibre are slim to none.
It all adds up to a rather gloomy picture for the future, unless a benefactor with deep pockets can be sourced over the winter months.
Money talks at all levels of football, with the rise of Waterford after the investment made by millionaire Lee Power a case in point.
There was a time, not so long ago, when Wexford regularly beat the Blues in the south-east derby, but now our neighbours are looking good for European football with the Premier Division campaign almost at an end.
The lead goal for Wexford on Friday arrived in the 22nd minute when Adham Masood was fouled and floated in the free-kick himself from the right wing at the Ferrycarrig end.
With centre-half Ross Kenny providing the necessary distraction at the near post, the ball went beyond him and struck Aaron Dobbs on the body before entering the corner of the net.
While it was far from the best of his goals this season, they all count and it brought the Enniscorthy teenager’s overall tally to seven as he copper-fastened his position on top of the club’s scoring charts.
Number two arrived just before half-time, in the 44th minute, and it was a first in the club colours for Dean Walsh who arrived on loan from Waterford during the season.
He did well to close down netminder Mick Fogarty and block his attempted clearance, with the ball breaking to the right of goal close to the byline.
It meant that Walsh had to work an angle for himself before taking aim, but he found the far corner of the net with his left foot instead of squaring the ball to Dobbs who was loose in front of goal.
While there was never a chance that the 7-0 win over the same opposition in April would be repeated, Wexford were able to control the second-half with a reasonable degree of comfort although Athlone did have their chances and plenty of attacking play.
Indeed, the corner count read 8-0 in their favour by the end, but their best opportunity had been wasted in between those two Wexford goals in the 35th minute.
On that occasion, a long crossfield ball from Josh Hogan found lively captain Aaron Brilly on the right.
His deep cross was headed on to the bar by Ollie Hamzat, and George Mukete could only direct the rebound over from close range.
Corey Chambers had made a comfortable near-post save from Hamzat in the tenth minute, and Wexford didn’t create any opening of note before Dobbs put them ahead from that Masood assist.
Brilly struck the side-netting in the 26th minute, while Nika Kalandarishvili wasn’t too far away with a header following a Ciarán Burns corner later in the half.
Dean Walsh did well to rob Ian Fletcher near the halfway line and race forward before squaring the ball for Adham Masood, but the Athlone defender got back and atoned for his earlier slip.
After Walsh doubled the lead it made for a largely uneventful second-half, and goalkeeper Mick Fogarty didn’t get a chance to make up for his error as he was replaced at the break by Garmondeh Ta-Uway.
The new man got his body behind a Danny Doyle shot just 50 seconds into the new half after Dean George rolled a short freekick into his colleague’s path.
And after getting a strong fist on another George set-piece, he was equal to a tame shot from Aaron Dobbs who recovered after a brief slip following a low ball across from the right by Adham Masood.
Athlone did have the ball in the net in the 70th minute courtesy of substitute Rory McCullough, but he had been flagged for offside before latching on to a Shane Stokes through ball.
A neat piece of skill under pressure by Dean George was followed by a shot which went low to the left and wide, while there was a let-off for the leaders when Jamie Broderick missed a free header from one of the six second-half Athlone corners.
Liam McCartan had a decent late effort for Wexford that fizzed wide on the left, with the game ending soon afterwards to confirm the home side’s superiority over their Westmeath opponents once again.
In actual fact, they beat them on the field in all three encounters this season, but the 1-0 win in Lissywollen was forfeited for fielding an ineligible player as a result of incompetence off the field.
Other than that, the only two victories were achieved on the road against Cabinteely in Stradbrook, with 18 defeats from the 27 games highlighting the ongoing difficulties in making the same impact as Wexford Youths did when they memorably won this division in 2015.
Wexford F.C.: Corey Chambers; Liam McCartan, Conor Sutton, Ross Kenny (capt.), John Morgan; Adham Masood, Danny Doyle, Seán Kelly, Dean George; Dean Walsh, Aaron Dobbs. Subs. - Seán Smithers for Walsh (61), Craig O’Reilly for George (77), A.J. Lehane for Masood (84), also Colum Feeney, Vincent Quinlan, Kelan Gaffney.
Athlone Town: Mick Fogarty; Ian Fletcher, Paddy Kelly, Jamie Broderick; Aaron Brilly (capt.), Josh Hogan, Ciarán Burns, Shane Stokes, Nika Kalandarishvili; Ollie Hamzat, George Mukete. Subs. - Garmondeh Ta-Uway for Fogarty (HT), Rory McCullough for Mukete (65), Kyle Hogan for Broderick (80), also Dan O’Donovan, Victor Ekanem, Craig Canty, Rob O’Leary.
Referee: Oliver Moran (Dublin).
DIVISION 1 FINAL TABLE
PWDL FA Pt U.C.D. 27 17 6 4 59 29 57 Finn Harps 27 16 6 5 46 22 54 Shelbourne 2713113 52 21 50 Longford Tn 27 13 6 8 54 36 45 Drogheda Utd 27 14 7 6 50 27 49 Galway Utd 27 10 7 10 41 36 37 Cabinteely 27 9 3 15 32 45 30 Cobh Rblers 27 8 5 14 24 41 29 Wexford F.C. 27 4 5 18 23 59 17 Athlone Town 27 1 4 22 16 81 7