Deadlock in U-16 derby
RATHNURE BATTLED back from two goals down against hosts Cloughbawn to claim what could prove to be a vital point in the race for the Wexford and District Schoolboys Soccer Under-16 Division 3 title recently.
Coming into the game both sides knew their destiny lay in their own hands but only one could emerge from the clash controlling their own fate. However, the stalemate has left both in peril, with New Ross Celtic, the current league leaders, the biggest beneficiaries.
Despite an unsatisfactory outcome for both sides, it really was a fantastically entertaining, committed game of football. Both teams went out looking for that critical victory and certainly didn’t lack in effort.
Rathnure won the previous meeting between the teams but Cloughbawn looked to put down a marker from the off. Inside ten seconds Paddy Whitty fired a sighter over from distance, a sign of things to come in a first-half that the home side dominated.
Both Daire Cloke-Rochford and Whitty tested Rathnure ‘keeper Kyle Martin in the opening quarter but he was up to the challenge. The save from Cloke-Rochford’s strike from the edge of the area was excellent, but the stop from Whitty’s header was on another level.
Still, with the clearcut chances the home side were creating, it was only going to be a matter of time before they broke through. Cloughbawn did just that in the 29th minute when Peter Rodgers fed across goal for Shane Kehoe to fire past Martin.
A minute from the break Cloughbawn grabbed a second. This time it was Eanna Doyle who picked out goalscorer Kehoe on the wing, and he crossed perfectly for Whitty to steer his header into the net off the despairing fingertips of the full-length Martin.
Had Rathnure went in two behind it could have been so different for their opponents. However, when Owen Lennon got a telling touch to A.J. Redmond’s free-kick in added-time, to turn it past Jack Feeney, it was game on.
The goal gave the Blackstairs men great belief because they were a different team after the break. With the peerless Redmond pulling the strings, they took the game to their hosts and it was no surprise that they equalised when Lennon hared away on the left and fired home from a tight angle in the 57th minute.
In an end-to-end final 20 minutes, both sides had chances to win it. Cloughbawn’s best fell to Kehoe breaking in on goal but Martin did superbly to save at the attacker’s feet. With five minutes remaining Lennon won a free on the edge of the area but Redmond’s rocket was just dealt with by Feeney in goal to ensure both teams took a hard-earned point.
Cloughbawn: Jack Feeney; Ryan Murphy, Michael McGrath, Nic Walkden, Chris Flood; Peter Rodgers, Eddie Kelly, Eanna Doyle (capt.), Shane Kehoe; Paddy Whitty, Daire Cloke-Rochford. Subs. - Liam Flood for Murphy (71), also Dylan O’Neill, Aaron Smyth, Cian Jordan, Dean Kenny-Butler.
Rathnure: Kyle Martin; Ciarán Doyle-Maher, Brian O’Neill, Liam Doucey, Cormac McGrath; Brendan Foley, Matt Butler, Charlie Tector, A.J. Redmond; Adam Carty (capt.), Owen Lennon. Subs. (not used) - Leo Durnan, Michael Somers, Jamie Lennon.
Referee: Fran Sinnott.