Under-17 boys shock leaders
Defeat for Shamrock Rovers
A THREADBARE Wexford F.C. stunned runaway leaders Shamrock Rovers in the SSE Airtricity League Southern Elite Under-17 Division in Ferrycarrig Park on Saturday.
With a number of players falling ill during the week, Wexford began the game with only two usable substitutes, one of whom was goalkeeper Seán Maher.
Yet, the lack of back-up on the bench didn’t appear to lessen the Ferrycarrig boys’ hunger and determination to produce a result.
This has been a season of continuous ups and downs for this young Wexford side, but this may well be their highest point, given that out-thinking and out-working an extremely talented Rovers team, potentially the best in Ireland, is no easy task.
It bodes as a very good omen for the knockout stages of the shield, where they will fancy themselves as serious contenders.
Even more so, signs look good for next season, when the majority of the team will be of the age and undoubtedly a serious threat to the Dublin stronghold.
They started well, as a scramble in the Rovers box led to James Dowling’s shot being blocked before Danila Bogdanov pulled one wide as the visitors momentarily broke the Wexford defence.
Wexford were producing some very good spells of passing play, and they won a corner from a move beginning with Aaron Hall, before going through Kevin Murphy, James Dowling, Seán Smithers and Shane Gibson.
Kevin Murphy volleyed home from the corner, as Shane O’Rourke’s punch failed to clear the box.
It really should have been two in the 26th minute when Murphy finished off another cross into the Rovers area, this time with his head, but referee Brian Fenlon ruled the goal out for a push by the Wexford defender.
Levingston saw his free-kick well held by O’Rourke before Rovers finished the half strong. Toby Owens pulled a good save from Hall on the verge of the halftime whistle.
The home side had another opportunity to put the game to bed immediately after the re-start. They broke swiftly from a Rovers corner, and Smithers fed Brody Murphy who thumped the post with O’Rourke beaten.
The Hoops enjoyed more possession in the final 30 minutes but for the most part they looked strapped of ideas against this resilient Wexford defence. Only James Clarke could really test Hall, but the Model netminder was equal to the effort.
The extent of Wexford’s illness crisis was evident come the 83rd minute when goalkeeper Seán Maher replaced the exceptional Shane Gibson. Maher acted as Wexford’s striker for the final ten minutes as they just focused on keeping things tight at the back.
Fenlon’s whistle after four minutes of injury time ended what could in theory be Wexford’s final home game of the season. They travel west to Galway next weekend with another giant-killing on their minds in their final league game.
Wexford F.C.: Aaron Hall; Shane Gibson, Kevin Murphy, Darragh Levingston (capt.), Danny Bruce; Luke Greene, Graham O’Reilly, Ethan O’Neill, Brody Murphy, James Dowling; Seán Smithers. Subs. - Caellum Travers-Devlin for O’Neill (55), Seán Maher for Gibson (83), also Robert Bulmer, Dylan Whelan.
Shamrock Rovers: Shane O’Rourke; Martins Olakanye, Andrew Spain (capt.), Jordan Tallon, James Furlong; Dean McMenamy, Thomas Hannon, James Clarke, Emmanuel Odeniyi, Toby Owens; Danila Bogdanov. Subs. - Jack Kelly for Odeniyi (46), Cian Kelly for McMenamy (67), Shane Nealon for Hannon (67), also Alex Dunne, Conor Behan.
Referee: Brian Fenlon (Wexford).