WICKLOW ROVERS
The senior men made it seven wins on the bounce and eight wins in their last nine games with a very impressive victory over St Francis in the second round of the Polikoff cup.
St Francis ply their trade in the league above Rovers and are cup specialists, to make it even more impressive the lads defeated them on their own patch.
Gareth Murphy gave Rovers a dream start after three minutes when he fired home his seventh goal of the season.
The lead didn’t last long as the home side levelled on eight minutes, St Francis then nudged in front on 13 minutes.
Rovers showed their fighting spirit and battled back to square things up three minutes before the interval through a third of the campaign from Mark Johnson.
The second half failed to produce a winner and 30 minutes of extra time couldn’t separate the sides either so it was on to the dreaded penalty shootout.
The lads won the shootout 5-4 with Mick Delaney scoring the decisive fifth penalty for Rovers with keeper Shane Doyle saving the all crucial St Francis fifth penalty.
This was an excellent all round team performance from the lads and a very impressive scalp to take.
Our under-17Bs went down to a heavy 9-1 defeat to a very strong Avonmore side, the lads never performed in this game against a strong fit Avonmore team. Nathan Wynne scored his fifth of the season for a Rovers consolation goal.
Saturday’s junior action saw our under-11s playing at the under-12 age grade go down 10-9 on penalties to Greystones Utd B in the Challenge Cup, ordinary time and extra time failed to produce a goal but this was a very exciting scoreless draw and it was a pity to see either team lose out after a highly entertaining game.
Our under-13Bs took on local rivals Wicklow Town in their Challenge Cup and after losing 5-1 to the same opponents last week it was always going to be a tough encounter for the lads but they were up for the task.
They recorded a fantastic 2-1 victory with Charlie Phelan’s third
The big name causality in round 6 was one of our previous winners Jonathan Lewins, which now leaves Greg Dunne as the only previous winner left standing