Smith gives U17s a lift

OSCAR SMITH netted an 83rd-minute winner to lift Wexford off the foot of the SSE Airtricity Under-17 League Southern Elite Section table in Ferrycarrig Park on Saturday.

The hosts’ game with Cabinteely looked to be meandering towards a draw until Smith popped up to fire home the winner seven minutes from time to give his side their first victory of the season.

It came just seconds after they looked to have wasted their best chance to take the points when Mark Soper hooked Liam Berry’s lofted effort off the goal-line after it beat the advancing Jack Kelly.

However, Wexford kept the move alive on the right wing and Smith was the coolest man in Ferrycarrig when the chance came to nab a crucial winner and move the hosts above Cabinteely in the table.

The visitors made the early running. They took the lead when referee Jimmy O’Neill played a good advantage in the build-up, allowing Kian Bolger to make the most of a defensive error and give the travelling side the lead.

After taking a drubbing at the hands of Shamrock Rovers the previous week, Wexford could have let their heads drop and mailed it in.

They refused to do that and were rewarded before the break when Adham Masood turned in a cross from the wing to make it 1-1.

Level at the break, both sides shadow-boxed for long spells in the second-half.

Cabinteely enjoyed more of the possession but had little to show from it, apart from a few wayward long-range efforts.

Wexford created an opening midway through the period when Kyle Kennedy sent a half-volley whizzing over from Caellum Travers-Devlin’s corner.

Yet Jack Kelly remained untroubled in the Cabinteely goal until Smith’s late strike.

The hosts did have one scary moment to contend with before they grabbed the winner. Soper, who looked like he might just have drifted offside from Evan Caulfield’s flick-on, poked at goal but Michael Walsh was alert and saved low at his feet.

Wexford are out again this coming week, as they face Bray Wanderers at home on Sunday, looking to put back-to-back wins together to move further up the Southern Elite section table.

Wexford: Michael Walsh; Kian Kerr, Nathan O’Connor, Cian Foley, Conor Signorelli; Kyle Kennedy, Paddy Barron, Caellum Travers-Devlin, Adham Masood; Liam Berry (capt.), Oscar Smith. Subs. - Reece Murphy for Masood, Brandon Deady for Barron, Jason Daly for Signorgili, Jack Gallagher for Kerr, also Colum Feeney.

Cabinteely: Jack Kelly; Andrew Egan, Evan Caulfield, Mark Soper, Ben White; Cian Kelly, Niall Barr, Eoin Hassey, Kian Bolger; Zac O’Neill, Joyce Tsumbu. Subs. - Vilius Labutis for Barr, Clayton Walsh for Tsumbu, Jack Maguire for C. Kelly, Seán McCann for Hassey, Dylan Bermingham for White, also Eric Browne, Peter Quinlan.

Referee: Jimmy O’Neill.