Rathnew crowned
The Village hit Wicklow Town for six to capture the title
THEY only needed a point but Rathnew AFC bridged a lenghty gap to become WDFL Premier League kings in impressive style.
Standing in their way were reigning champions and fierce rivals Wicklow Town who surely would have loved to spoil their coronation but both sides are on different trajectories this season and the Village side were far too strong for their near neighbours.
Nicky Mernagh with a brace, Jody Merrigan, Leighton Glynn, Paul Merrigan and Theo Smith all did the damage for Rathnew who led by two at half-time.
Wicklow Town had a few chances of their own but Cathal Moody in the Rathnew goal wasn’t in too much trouble for the day.
It took Rathnew all of seventy seconds to create their first opportunity with Jody Merrigan skipping down the left wing past a few would-be tackles and crossing for Nicky Mernagh who shot over from the edge of the box.
They didn’t have to wait much longer for a goal to arrive however.
In the fifth minute Mernagh beat the offside trap having been caught moments earlier and calmly slotted the ball home past the despairing Ken Turner.
The game settled into an easy rhythm for the next twenty minutes, both teams had half chances without any glaring misses.
Rathnew let a couple of balls bounce dangerously in their box while at the other end Merrigan got in a cross again that was a few yards too far in front of Glynn and went harmlessly wide.
Then the chances came a bit quicker. Gareth Murphy showed a bit of trickery to get in the box but Theo Smith was in no mood for his shenanigans and blocked his cross. Richard Murphy rose unmarked for a header in the box but he couldn’t direct it on target.
At the other end Merrigan had a glorious chance from six yards but his header was straight at Turner who knew little about it and got his body in the way.
It was end to end stuff and Lenny Carton connected beautifully with a volley from 30 yards that Moody did well to parry away having seen the ball late. Jonny Carton wasn’t able to get on the rebound.
Back at the other end Merrigan looked to have a strong penalty claim but his protests were waved away. Merrigan wasn’t too happy though and let Mick Delaney, the tackler, know all about it, causing Ken Turner to rush from his goal line to get involved, along with others. Merrigan and Turner received a yellow card each for their troubles as temperatures rose a couple of degrees.
The second goal came from Rathnew’s utter inability to give up on a supposedly lost cause.
In the 35th minute, Brian O’Sullivan had an easy enough ball to clear when a little bit of pressure from Nicky Mernagh made his job more difficult. He conceded a poor thrown in.
While the Wicklow Town players digested what had happened, Mernagh got the ball and Leighton Glynn could smell blood.
A quick throw in to Glynn gave him a chance to cross and Merrigan made it two.
Merrigan had another chance early in the second half before Glynn wrapped up the league title with a penalty in the 50th minute, won by Merrigan. He was certainly nudged in the back by David O’Connor as a free drifted into the box and he went to ground and the referee awarded a penalty.
Mernagh, Paul Merrigan and Theo Smith completed the rout in the final 25 minutes as Wicklow Town looked to pull back a consolation goal, Gareth Murphy with the best chance, but it never came. Rathnew are champions, again. Rathnew: 1. Cathal Moody; 2. Aidan Snell, 4. Jason Devlin, 5. Theo Smith, 3. Chris Gregory; 7. Jonny Byrne, 6. Jack Healy, 8. Leighton Glynn, 11. Graham Merrigan; 9. Jody Merrigan, 10. Nicky Mernagh. Subs: 12. Michael Anthony Doyle; 13. Colin Jameson; 14. Anthony Franey; 15. Mark Doyle; 16. Sean Paul Dunne; 17. Paul Merrigan; 18. David Jameson; 19. Christian Kearney.
Wicklow Town: 1. Ken Turner; 2, Brian O’Sullivan, 4. Lenny Carton, 5. Ian Brannigan, 3. Mick Delaney; 9. John Connors, 6. Robert Murphy, 7. Pete Finnegan, 8. David O’Connor; 10. Gareth Murphy, 11. Jonny Carton. Subs: 12. Adam Cox; 13. Alan Delaney; 14. Jack Geraghty.
Referee: David Jameson