Porter hits precious winner
Teenager’s first Senior goal seals second victory of year
CABINTEELY WEXFORD F.C.
EOIN PORTER’S 39th-minute goal gave Wexford F.C. their second SSE Airtricity League Division 1 victory of the season, this time on the road against Cabinteely in Stradbrook on Friday.
The teenager, playing just two days after completing his Leaving Cert. exams in Good Counsel College, popped up on cue at the back post to volley home Adam Hanlon’s right-wing cross and give his side something they could hold on to.
Wexford, who have defended well for long parts of the season, were fairly comfortable in the second-half. They survived the couple of decent chances the hosts created to move within four points of seventh-placed Athlone.
Confidence has been on the up around Ferrycarrig Park in recent weeks. In the five games straddling the mid-season break, Wexford have managed to pick up seven points, equivalent to mid-table form.
Their two wins have come in that spell, as did last week’s draw with Athlone and a narrow away loss to Cobh. Only the Longford game got out of hand and that, a month ago, seems like a long time ago.
Wexford set up in their familiar 4-2-3-1 shape with Owen McCormack coming back into the heart of the defence and Craig McCabe moving into the right full-back spot in place of Seán Hurley.
Further up the field, recent signing Aaron O’Connor made his full Wexford F.C. debut in place of Liam Donnelly in the middle of the ‘three’ with Mark Slater switching into the wide role on the left. However, after a first five minutes dominated by the hosts, Slater succumbed to injury and Eoin Porter came on as a direct replacement on the flank.
The change unsettled the visitors initially as Cabinteely looked to feed the ball wide to Joe Doyle and Evan Galvin. They got most of their joy down the flanks but most of it was cosmetic - there was some nice football but generally not overly threatening.
In the sixth minute Marty Waters and Galvin combined on the right to send the ball across goal. It was cleared as far as Anto Dolan on the edge of the area, and he forced it to Christian Lotefa but the holding midfielder’s acrobatic effort flew over the crossbar.
Other than the spectacular, Cabinteely did create one great chance in the first 15 minutes. Galvin is a really tricky customer, someone that would probably excel with better players around him. He got into space on the left, crossed to the back post but Joe Doyle, unmarked, missed his connection with the goal gaping.
Wexford were often the harbingers of their own downfall in the early stages, with a lot of sloppy passing, particularly when they tried to stretch play crossfield, leaving them consistently on the backfoot.
However, they slowly began to find their range and easily matched their hosts thereafter. Wexford had created nothing of note until Danny Doyle charged down a clearance from Thomas Croke’s hopeful header forward.
The ball spun perfectly for the Wexford attacker, sending him away one-on-one with Jack Menton, stranded out of his area. Rejecting the opportunity to shoot first time, Doyle tried to round the hosts’ stopper but hit him with the ball when anywhere else had the Cabo ‘keeper in a world of trouble.
Seeing what could be possible gave Wexford a great boost. Within 60 seconds Adam Hanlon drifted in from the right and sent Menton sprawling across his goal to fingertip behind for a corner that eventually came to nothing.
Marty Waters latched on to Jack Watson’s pass in the 29th minute but dribbled a poor shot wide right. Later, Waters’ corner from the right was meekly glanced wide by Dylan Roche from eight yards out.
In the 36th minute Wexford gave advance warning of what was to follow moments later. Hanlon latched onto a long Corey Chambers ball on the right and swung in a cross to the back post, but Porter rose a split second too early and missed the connection on his header.
When Hanlon collected Conor Sutton’s pass, jinked past one and then drove at heart of the Cabinteely defence, the hosts backed off, scared. It cost them as the Wexford wideman crossed to the back post where Porter had drifted off his marker and he calmly steered his volley past a scrambling Menton.
There was always likely to be a response from the hosts after the break and it duly arrived within seconds. Conor Keeley’s volley was blocked behind before Lotefa sliced a weak effort over the top.
Corey Chambers had to be brave in the 52nd minute when Marty Waters crossed from the left. Joe Doyle got a toe on it but so did the Wexford goalkeeper and the ball skimmed wide of the far post.
The moment the game hit the hour mark, with Cabinteely’s bright start to the second-half now forgotten, there was serious activity on both benches. Damian Locke switched O’Connor out and brought in Dean Kelly for his debut but it was Cabinteely who went for it, switching to three at the back.
That change, and Dillon Roche’s injury that sent Lotefa into the back three, actually helped Wexford get a stranglehold in the heart of midfield. Cabinteely still looked dangerous when they could spread play and double-up out wide but Wexford were enjoying more and more of the ball.
Kelly switched left for Porter to cross in the 66th minute but Croke couldn’t make a connection and Hanlon saw his effort blocked. Hanlon then thumped a 25-yard effort wide of the right post.
When Evan Galvin sent a left-wing free-kick into the box it caused panic. The ball eventually landed at Peter Durrand’s feet but his shot on the turn was deflected onto the post and cleared to safety.
Hanlon’s pass almost got Kelly away but the Wexford newbie miscontrolled. At the other end Waters got wide right and pulled back for Michael Scott but his powerful low shot was straight at Chambers.
With four minutes remaining Wexford had a glorious chance to settle it. Chambers went long, Porter flicked on to Liam Donnelly and he broke away left of goal. The Wexford substitute cut back inside the box and squared for Dean Kelly whose effort was too casual, and Menton made the save from close range.
Cabinteely pressed, throwing everything at Wexford in the four minutes of added-time. It looked like they might snatch an equaliser when Kevin Knight’s long ball eventually fell to Conor Keeley from Doyle’s pass, but his shot cracked off the crossbar with Chambers beaten.
A flashpoint deep into added-time, that involved the majority of both sets of players, saw Christian Lotefa and Ricky Fox both collect straight red cards. Knight knocked the resulting free-kick into the penalty area but Wexford cleared and referee Adriano Reale blew his full-time whistle.
Wexford now go into their Ferrycarrig Park clash on Friday with high-flying UCD as confident as they have been all season. The students have been in fine form themselves, beating table-toppers Waterford in their last game at the Belfield Bowl, but the hosts will be aiming to keep their revival going for at least another week.
Wexford F.C.: Corey Chambers; Craig McCabe (capt.), Owen McCormack, Ross Kenny, Ricky Fox; Conor Sutton, Thomas Croke; Adam Hanlon, Aaron O’Connor, Mark Slater; Danny Doyle. Subs. - Eoin Porter for Slater, inj. (5), Dean Kelly for O’Connor (62), Liam Donnelly for Doyle (81), also Dean George, Mikey Byrne, Seán Hurley, Michael Walsh.
Cabinteely: Jack Menton; Adam Maher, Conor Keeley, Dillon Roche, Kevin Knight; Christian Lotefa; Joe Doyle, Jack Watson, Anto Dolan, Evan Galvin; Marty Waters (capt.). Subs. - Peter Durrand for Dolan (63), Michael Scott for Mahon (63), Daire Doyle for Roche (72), also Dean Mahon, Karl Byrne, Rob McGee, Aaron Robinson.
Referee: Adriano Reale (Kildare).