WICKLOW ROVERS

Our senior men’s team earned an excellent point away to unbeaten Clondalkin Celtic last Friday night, trailing 1-0 the lads battled back to earn a share of the spoils when they levelled matters through Luke Byrne with seven minutes remaining.

The lads could even have won the game when the Dublin side’s keeper pulled off a fantastic save from Sean Tobin in the dying seconds.

This can be seen as a point gained as hopefully in what seems to be a very tight league this point could prove to be very valuable at the business end of the season.

Our under-17s won 3-1 at home to fourth placed Drimnagh Celtic to earn three points which keeps them on the shirt tails of early pacesetters Castleknock Celtic and Palmerstown, no details of scorers at the time of going to print.

The ladies senior team took on Shankill last Wednesday night and after a tight encounter the girls lost out 2-1. Shankill raced into a two goal lead by the midway point of the first half but the girls showed great character by battling back and reducing the arrears before the break when fine work between Niamh O’Brien and Valentine Lenoir set up Natasha Fitzgerald who fired home.

The second half was a very even affair with both sides having chances, Niamh O’Brien and Natasha Fitzgerald went close for Rovers while Charmaine Higgins in the Rovers goal produced two excellent saves.

On a night when the girls played well in patches Charmaine Higgins was the outstanding Rovers player making three fantastic saves, also standing out on the night were Maggie Maloney, Saoirse O’Reilly and Louise Johnson.

On Saturday the under-12As produced an excellent performance in the second round of the SFAI cup when they defeated a very strong Kilcullen side 2-1 in their own backyard, Kai Fitzsimons fifth of the season set them on their way with Daniel Mabuza’s first of the season proving decisive in what was an excellent all round team performance.

The under-13As made it five wins from five in the premier shield when they defeated Arklow Town A 10-0 at the Whitegates.

Callum Gibney kept his hot streak in front of goal going with a fabulous hat-trick, there was two a piece for Conor Hunter, Tiernan O’Brien and Tom Hodgkinson with Willoughby Woods adding a single.

The under-13Bs lost 4-2 away to Ashford Rovers, in a close encounter Rory Hannon and Oran Dempsey both hit their first goals of the season.

Our under-14Bs went down narrowly to Caragh Celtic on a score of 2-1 in the second round of the SFAI cup, the lads went in front but didn’t make their early dominance count as the Kildare side battled back with two unanswered goals to progress.

Sunday’s action saw the under 13 girls play out an exciting encounter with Lakelands, unfortunately for the girls they lost 2-1 which was a cruel outcome as the girls were the better team for large periods of the game, Molly Sweeney fired home her fifth goal of the season and it was only a number of stunning saves from the away keeper that prevented the Rovers girls from claiming the three points.

The under-14As went out of the SFAI cup when they lost 2-1 away to Knockmitten Utd, with a few regulars down the lads gave a good account of themselves and could easily have got something from the game, Adam O’Reilly scored their goal.

The under-16As progressed to round four of the SFAI cup with a narrow 3-2 win over Greystones Utd, two goals from Nathan Sullivan and one from Sean Leonard sets them up for a home tie with the winners of Caragh Celtic and Athy Town.

Our under-16Bs recorded a fine 3-2 away win over Aughrim Rangers, Javier Rodriguez notched two with Ryan Murphy adding a single which sees both players on five for the season in an all round good team performance from the lads.

Two further membership registration nights have been scheduled for this coming Friday, October 14, and then on Friday, October 28, these will be the seventh and eighth nights that have been held.

They will take place in the clubhouse in the Whitegates from 7pm to 8pm, anyone with outstanding fees are encouraged to attend as there are no more registration nights planned.

After these dates the club may be left with no option but to cease any member with outstanding fees from using club facilities, this applies to both junior and senior sections of the club.

Our Last Man Standing competition resumes this coming weekend, as it stands we have 69 players left to battle it out for the title and the €500 prize, we would like to thank everyone who has supported our competition and also wish all remaining players the very best of luck.

Remember your selection for round 4 should be sent to Jimmy Nolan at 087-9108706 before 7pm on Thursday night.