Town net magnificent seven
Six of the best for Long as New Ross side turn on style
NEW ROSS TOWN came out as impressive winners in a strange but entertaining Under-12 Division 1 clash in the Wexford Schoolboys League on Saturday in Enniscorthy.
Although it turned out to be relatively comfortable, it was an important win for the New Ross boys who will be looking to keep up with the early pace set by division leaders Glynn Barntown.
Impressively, each of the away side’s seven goals came before the break.
Ben Long and Jack Walsh linked up twice in the opening five minutes to send New Ross well on their way towards three points.
Walsh supplied Long to finish confidently into the bottom left for the opener before the roles were reversed and Walsh fired into the top right corner from a narrow angle.
Tomas Manning had to be brave on his line to deny Eoin Hanton but there was no stopping Hanton’s cross from being forcefully headed into the bottom corner by Long on the midway point of the half.
Bagging twice in the opening 15 minutes, it’s fair to say that it had already been a good morning for Ben Long on the goal scoring front. Little did he know, it was about to get a whole lot better.
It started in the 24th minute - Long fed PJ Mackey only for his shot to be saved and tapped into the empty net by Long, thus completing his hat-trick.
But he wasn’t finished there. Long bagged another brace in successive minutes, chipping the ball over Manning for his fourth and rounding the Enniscorthy netminder for his fifth.
There was one last bite of the cherry left for Long before the break.
Incredibly, he scored his sixth, his side’s seventh, when Walsh’s parried shot once again left him with an empty net.
You rarely see the dynamic of a game switch as much as this one did after half-time.
It appeared to be a completely different game to that of five minutes earlier, as Moyne Rangers threw everything they had at New Ross Town.
They only managed to score twice, but they had more than enough chances to bring this game right back to into the balance.
Killian Brennan had the ball in the net just after the restart only for it to be pulled back for a very marginal offside.
Sean Hyland grabbed their first after a positive run from midfield he slotted past Joe McCarthy.
Jack Byrne had a number of efforts fly over the crossbar and wide but he went closest in the 56th minute when his effort cannoned back off the woodwork.
Robbie Breen and Brennan went close again before Ben Walsh’s dipping shot from distance crept over the line to finish the game off at 7-2.
MOYNE RANGERS: Tomas Manning; Callum McVeigh, Dylan Farrell, Jack
Byrne; Ryan Donohue, Killian Brennan, Ben Walsh, Jack Lacey; Sean Hyland. Subs (rolling): John Rossiter, Ben Fortune, Robbie Breen.
NEW ROSS TOWN: Joe McCarthy; Darragh Murphy, Joey Mullen, Conor Downey; PJ Mackay, Eoin Hanton, Sean O’Brien; Ben Long, Jack Walsh. Subs (rolling):
Ryan Doyle, Jamie Kehoe.
REFEREE: Kieran Dunne.