Albion well in hunt
No referee but the show goes on
COURTOWN HIBS WEXFORD ALBION
WHEN YOU’VE travelled the best part of an hour, it’s lashing rain, it’s midway through April and you have seven of your twelve league games still to play, it really isn’t the time for a referee not to show up.
That’s exactly the predicament Wexford Albion found themselves in after going through their warmups in Ounavarra Park, where they were set to face hosts Courtown Hibs in a Wexford and District Schoolboys Soccer Under-13 League Division 1A clash on Monday of last week.
There was zero appetite for turning around and going home, as both sides were already wet through, there’s not much time left in the season, and the game just needed to be played.
After unsuccessfully trying to get hold of the alloted referee, the sides agreed to officiate one half each.
Courtown took the whistle in the opening half and against the run of play, and defying their lowly position in the table, they took the lead.
Jude Tyndall-Stafford was a good 25 yards out when he took a free-kick from handball, but a powerful shot on the breeze gave Albion ‘keeper Killian Whelan no chance.
With their pacy wingers causing trouble on the flanks, and Jakob Wasilewski looking dangerous through the middle, Albion were creating but missing chances.
However, when visiting striker Wasilewski was fouled he stepped up and replied with a carbon-copy free-kick over Kenny Robertson to the net.
That goal on the stroke of halftime was just the fillip that Albion needed, and they turned down the opportunity to referee the second-half and allowed the Courtown representative to continue. It made no difference because the Wexford town club bossed the second period.
Still, when they took the lead three minutes after the break, it was a little unorthodox.
The ball fell to Darragh Kirwan from a Courtown clearance just a few yards inside the Hibs half, the defender left fly and it rode the wind all the way to the net.
If there was a touch of fortune about his first, there was no denying the class with which Kirwan fired home his second from a right wing corner in the 46th minute.
Albion had gone close from Conor Cullen and Tommy Convey earlier, but the third goal did settle the game as a contest.
It was relentless from Albion at this stage. They were enjoying their night in the rain and they wrapped up the scoring ten minutes from time when Dean Hillis fired home a low rocket from just outside the Hibs area.
Albion remain five points behind a Blackwater side which also won, but they are going to take some stopping in this division. They are five points back but have four games in hand on the league leaders.
Courtown Hibs: Kenny Robertson, Leon Tyndall-Stafford, Cillian Egan, Lee Doyle, Harry Smith, Cian O’Rourke, Tom Hernandez, Evan Whelan, Jude Tyndall-Stafford, Cillian Morgan, Paudie Reeves. Subs. - David Harney, Jason Timmons.
Wexford Albion: Killian Whelan, Darragh Kirwan, Mark Thomas, Dean Hillis, Brandon Walsh, Jessie Dempsey, Adam Tierney, Tommy Convey, Jakob Wasilewski, Callum Farrell, Conor Cullen. Subs. - Seán Denton, Barry Curran, A.J. Doyle.