U-17s all set for derby
SHELBOURNE WEXFORD F.C. 1 3
WEXFORD F.C. recorded their second away win and their first two-goal victory of the season as they pushed aside Shelbourne in the SSE Airtricity Under-17 League shield in the A.U.L. on Saturday.
It is a win which will set up a much more familiar fixture in the quarter-final, as Wexford will take on local rivals Waterford F.C. for the fourth time this season in Ferrycarrig at the weekend.
The only thing which didn’t particularly go to plan was how the Ferrycarrig boys started. A poorly-cleared corner was headed into the top corner by Leon Lawlor inside seven minutes as Shels took the early advantage.
It took Wexford a little bit of time to recover and the deficit was almost doubled when Seán Maher let a ball slip through his legs. Fortunately for his side, he was able to recover and dive on it before it crept over the goal-line.
Seán Smithers tested Colm Cox for the first time after 20 minutes but Mervyn Mambo kept Wexford on their toes as his header flashed over the crossbar.
As the half matured Wexford noticeably improved and were clearly getting closer to drawing level. A creative Ethan O’Neill had Smithers in on goal, but once again Cox was equal to it.
He somehow kept the resulting corner out too. After a scramble on the line the ball fell to Robert Bulmer, but his shot was palmed away to safety.
It was another corner just before half-time which got Wexford on terms. Darragh Levingston’s cross towards the back post was smashed in by Caellum Travers-Devlin from an acute angle.
For Wexford it was a great time to score and they came out after half-time on top. With Bulmer now playing through the middle he looked a greater threat.
He flashed one over the bar moments before curling a sublime left-footed strike into the far corner past Cox, putting Wexford ahead for the first time.
The Northern Division side then had a 15-minute spell where they looked at their most dangerous. Oluwasegun Lawal was denied well by Maher twice as a number of strange refereeing decisions continued to go against the travelling side.
Wexford looked a greater threat on the counter-attack the longer the game went on and, when Levingston found Graham O’Reilly in the 76th minute, the midfielder finished clinically into the bottom left corner.
Wexford’s third ended the game as a contest and the winning margin could have been extended. An exceptional James Dowling headed inches over the crossbar before O’Reilly somehow missed the target from three yards.
Wexford will fancy themselves going into this weekend’s derby, having already beaten their rivals three times this season. They will feel another good performance should be enough to book their place in the shield semi-final.
Wexford F.C.: Seán Maher; Killian Griffin, Darragh Levingston (capt.), Kevin Murphy, Shane Gibson; Caellum Travers-Devlin, Graham O’Reilly, Ethan O’Neill, Brody Murphy, Robert Bulmer; Seán Smithers. Subs. - James Dowling for Smithers (48), Dylan Whelan for Travers-Devlin (59), Brian Byrne for Bulmer (77), also Aaron Hall, Danny Bruce, Seán O’Brien-Murphy, Luke Greene.
Shelbourne: Colm Cox; Danny Hickey, Robbie Lyons, Kevin McEvoy, Leon Lawlor; Aaron Connolly (capt.), Mervyn Mambo, Darragh Keating, Dylan Mulhearn, Seán Cumisky, Oluwasegun Lawal. Subs. - Christopher Uchenna for Cumisky (59), Rasaq Alamu for Mambo (59), Leigh Deegan for Mulhearn (77).
Referee: Dylan Redmond (Dublin).