Wicklow put Limerick to the sword!
Strong second half showing from Evans’ men
WICKLOW 2-8 LIMERICK 1-6
A towering second half performance earned the Wicklow Senior footballers their second win in this year’s Division 4 league campaign and sets them up nicely for their difficult trip to Derry on February 24.
Two goals in that second half helped power Wicklow to victory over their Limerick opponents who failed, as Wicklow did in the opening half, to make any use of the string wind at their backs blowing down the field from the Rednagh Hill end of the field.
Wicklow had a number of standout performers on the day with AGB’s Darragh Fitzgerald coming in for special praise for his workaholic performance up and down the wing, especially in the first half where it seemed like he was given the freedom of the park to make his incisive runs past a tiring Limerick defence.
Ross O’Brien was very impressive at full-back, showing superbly in front for some long balls during the first half while Oisin Manning and Davy Devereux continue to shine at corner-back and halfback respectively. Devereux was instrumental in Theo Smyth’s goal, Wicklow’s second, when he put his body on the line to emerge from tackles before fisting across the square to the Rathnew man who punched home to the back of the Limerick net.
The aforementioned Smyth was a huge figure in this game, bagging 1-1, the point an absolute beast off the outside of his right boot in the first half when all that faced him was a completely vacant full-forward line ahead.
St Pat’s stalwart Stephen Duffy chipped in with three points (one free), his first a bomb from way out the field that sailed high into the February sky while AGB’s Chris O’Brien finished with an excellent return of 1-2, a glorious point off his left that swung in gracefulkly with the help of the wind and his goal arriving after he had run the gauntlet of about five Limerick defenders who all seemed to want to break at least one bone in his body as he made his towards the Rednagh Hill end goal.
And a special mention for Wicklow goalkeeper Mark Jackson. More renowned for his scoring exploits (he fired over one free in this game) it was his pair of saves in the second half that gives us cause to afford him some praise. His first merely delayed what would become Limerick’s goal, but his second prevented them from getting to within a single score with at least one play remaining. What was most impressive from the second save was the speed of the Baltinglass man’s reflexes as he managed to get a hand to a high ball that was punched towards goal by a Limerick attacker. Jackson would have only seen it late but he somehow managed to get his hand to the ball and direct it away from danger. Class.
A 0-6 to 0-3 half-time lead looked highly insufficient given the force of the wind blasting down the field. Limerick midfielder Darragh Treacy, a large unit who you could do without getting a kick off to be fair, watched as his lofted effort from a free was caught by the wind and blown back to almost exactly where he had kicked it from.
Stephen Duffy’s influence on the game was evident from the start.
sThe full-forward was drifting out the field in search of ball as he does so superbly for Pat’s and he grabbed Wicklow’s two scores with the first five minutes, that bomb to get the ball rolling and the second from a free after Dean Healy had been stopped with all the force of an army tank.
Chris O’Brien’s orgasm-inducing point off his left followed and things were looking very good for Wicklow who needed a big performance to put the Limerick defeat to bed as quickly as possible.
Limerick grabbed their opener after Sean McSweeney swept over a free won by Seamus O’Carroll and then a Jamie Snell ball to Dean Healy saw the captain drill over the bar to end nine scoreless minutes for the home side and leave them 0-4 to 0-1 to the good with 15 minutes on the clock.
A Chris O’Brien converted free was answered by a Jamie Lee effort from play before Mark Kenny, playing in the centre half forward position, went wide after a ball from Healy with 27 gone.
Theo Smyth’s dazzler followed before Limerick half-back Colm McSweeney notched the first of his two-point tally to leave it 0-6 to 0-3 at the break.
Limerick got a bright start through a Sean McSweeney pointed free before Stephen Duffy bet the Limerick defence and the wind to curl over a sexy little number off that trusty left peg of his.
In the space of two minutes the game was turned on its head. Colm McSweeney pointed after a good burst forward and then Seamus O’Carroll rifled home to the back of Mark Jackson’s net after the Baltinglass man had saved an intitial effort following a sweeping Limerick move up the field, 1-5 to 0-7 in favour of the visitors, now we would see what Wicklow were made of.
Four minutes later, Wicklow were back in front, the trundling run of Chris O’Brien’s ending with a sweet major and a rousing roar from the decent Wicklow support.
A foul on Dean Healy saw Jackson get the call and despite missing an earlier effort he fired a rocket between the sticks with 25 on the clock and Wicklow up by three.
Ross O’Brien was harshly adjudged to have fouled Patrick Begley and Sean McSweeney pointed the resulting free but then Davy Devereux secured a place in all Wicklow football supporters’ hearts when he produced a mazy run before flipping the ball across to Theo Smyth who suffered a collision with Limerick goalkeeper Donal O’Sullivan to get his fist to the ball and direct it home to the back of the net, 2-8 to 1-6, five of normal to go.
Key to Wicklow’s strong second half was the reassigning of Mark Kenny from the cnetre half forward position to his more natural role of third midfielder and the Ballymanus man, believed to be still feeling the effects of an illness during this game, turned in a fine second half showing for John Evans.
That would be the end of the scoring for the day, but not the action.
Wicklow sent Paul Mcloughlin, Conor Healy, Dan Keane and Fintan O’Shea into the fray in the second half and all three made positive impacts, McLoughlin were introduced at Keane at half-time, Healy coming in for Theo Smyth who must have had a red back he got so many slaps from a delighted John Evans after the Rathnew man’s performance, and O’Shea coming in for Stephen Duffy.
Limerick were reduced to 14 late on when Patrick Begley was sent off for striking Podge O’Toole and Mark Jackson came to the rescue late on with that mightily impressive save to ensure that Limerick would not get any notions of a late snatch and grab and that the Garden County footballers would set sail for Derry on Sunday week with a strong wind in their sails and real belief in their hearts.
Scorers – Wicklow: Chris O’Brien 1-2 (1f), Theo Smyth 1-1, Stephen Duffy 0-3 (f), Mark Jackson 0-1 (f), Dean Healy 0-1.
Limerick: Seamus O’Carroll 1-0, Sean McSweeney 0-3 (2f), Colm McSweeney 0-2, J Lee 0-1.
WICKLOW: Mark Jackson; Oisin Manning, Ross O’Brien, Jamie Snell; Davy Devereux, Shane Mooney, Darragh Fitzgerald; Podge O’Toole, Dean Healy; Mark Fitzsimons, Mark Kenny, Theo Smyth; Chris O’Brien, Stephen Duffy, Patrick O’Connor. Subs: Paul McLoughlin for M Fitzsimons (H/T), Daniel Keane for P O’Connor (H/T), Conor Healy for T Smyth (61), Eoin Murtagh for S Duffy (69), Fintan O’Shea for C O’Brien (75).
LIMERICK: Donal O’Sullivan; Sean O’Dea, Gareth Noonan, Paul Maher; Colm McSweeney, Iain Corbett, Cillian Fahy; Darragh Treacy, Tommie Childs; Peter Nash, Jamie Lee, Brian Donovan; Sean McSweeney, Patrick Begley, Seamus O’Carroll. Subs: Stephen Keeley for T Childs (53), Michael Fitzgibbon for P Nash (53), Adrian Enright for B Donovan (50), Michael Donovan for P Maher (59), Kieran Daly for J Lee (61).
REFEREE: D Murnane (Cork)