Sligo Rovers U19’s Shield win
Four goals from Riverstown’s Johnny Kenny lead Sligo Rovers’ Under 19s to shield victory in Athlone last Tuesday evening as they defeated UCD 5-3.
Kenny, who is the son of Rovers legend Johnny Kenny Senior, opened the scoring on 26 minutes when he tapped home a cross from Jason Devaney.
It was 2-0 to the Bit O’Red just two minutes later, with Sean Kerrigan getting on the scoresheet.
David Baker halved the deficit minutes later when he opened the Dubliners’ account, and shortly before half-time the sides were level at 2-2.
The Students had an opportunity to take the lead just on the cusp of half-time as they were awarded a penalty, but an assured Gaffey in the Rovers goals saved the spotkick to ensure it was two apiece at the half way point.
A second from Kenny put Rovers ahead on 50 minutes when he ran on to a cross from Cillian Heaney.
Kenny secured his hat-trick minutes later to extend Rovers’ lead to 4-2 but UCD replied almost immediately to make it 4-3.
Kenny wasn’t done yet, however, and the 17-year-old scored his fourth minutes later to secure silverware for Brian Dorrian’s side.
Manager Brian Dorrian said: “I’m delighted. To get this far without football for such a long time and to get to the final, is great. It was an open game, we were great offensively but defensively probably not the best. For the lads and especially their families, it’s a big thing to finish the year off with a medal.”
With a number of players now too old for the Under 19 side, Dorrian is hopeful that last week’s victory will give them memories to look back on forever more.
“For me, putting smiles on young fellas’ faces is what it’s all about. There’s some players there last night who will have walked out the gate and will leave the club now and will go back to junior football or whatever, some of them will probably go on to other sports, they can reflect on this in years to come that they won something in that final. The great thing is they have become supporters of the club and that’s very important too going forward.”
Johnny Kenny will get all the headlines, but Dorrian feels that credit should go to his goalkeeper, too, as his penalty save was the turning point.
“Johnny Kenny scored four but the biggest turning point was probably Gaffey saving a penalty before half-time, it gave us a bit of a lift at that stage. Johnny Kenny’s not 18 until next year, Peter Maguire is not 18 until next year, you have Kailin Barlow who’s not 18 until next year, you have all these players coming through.”
It was a stop-start season for all sport, but particularly underage League of Ireland football. The season was halted twice, before the FAI stated that all underage seasons were cancelled. Mere days later there was a Government u-turn and it was agreed that Under 17 and Under 19 leagues could continue until they were finished.
“The boys had to do two and a a half pre-seasons,” Dorrian remarked. “We met in the middle of January, then when we came out of lockdown we did another pre-season and we did a mini one then in late November/early December and then we were supposed to play and it was pulled and on the following Tuesday we were back so it’s hard on the young lads and trying to build a bit of momentum and obviously match fitness, their personal fitness wasn’t too bad but the match fitness wasn’t what it would be. We were delighted to get there and now they have a medal to show for it.”
The Killybegs man feels that the club is headed in the right direction regarding the underage system, and feels that the appointment of Conor O’Grady as the Head of Academy can only help the system to improve.
“There’s four guys who are overage for us next year, then there’s eight from this year and there will be a few from the 17s coming through. There’s been a lot of international caps this year. The club as a whole is going in the right direction and with the appointment of Conor O’Grady it will hopefully take it to another level. I’m very happy for the boys because at the end of the day that’s what it’s about, realising the dream for them.”
He also paid tribute to the schoolboys clubs where players are developed before they enter the Sligo Rovers pathway.
“For the work that the club puts into the underage teams, but also the clubs they have come from, the schoolboys clubs, they have a lot to do with it. We’re very grateful. A lot of hard work goes into it regarding getting them prepared and ready.
“I’ve been saying this for a couple of years now but the work that’s being done from the 13s right up through the 15s, 17s, 19s and the interleague teams, the schoolboy teams, all that work is being done and then when players come into us and we get them sharpened up but the work is done by those people.”
Sligo Rovers: Gaffey, Gray Harrigan, Devaney, Maguire, Lynch, McKeon, Heaney, Edeh, Perry, Kerrigan, Kenny.
There’s players who will leave the club now and can reflect on this in years to come. It’s great for the lads.