Nothing to separate the sides in opening joust at the Carlisle
RATHNEW AFC GOREY RANGERS 0 0
A crowd of around 500 people turned up at the Carlisle Grounds in Bray to witness the 1995 Hills of Arklow Wicklow Cup final between Rathnew AFC and Gorey Rangers. ‘Rathnew and Gorey Rangers unable to break deadlock,’ read the headline in the Wicklow and Bray People newspapers of Thursday, May 18 as yet another Wicklow Cup final was sent to a replay after Enniskerry and Little Bray proved extremely difficult to separate in 1994.
Finals of all kinds in all competitions have a tendency to fail to live up to what the general public and the adoring supporters would like to see. The added pressure of the big occasion can serve to stifle the creativity of a team given that the players are aware that one slip can ultimately cost them the title.
So, it’s no surprise that the opening paragraphs of the report in the paper of that week contain the phrases ‘cancelled each other out’ and both teams will be hoping to play a lot better in next Sunday’s replay.
The third paragraph of the report makes mention of the sending offs of Gorey’s Alan Byrne and Rathnew’s Alan Newsome but is quick to point out that the game could ‘never be described as a dirty game.
‘With the counter-attraction of the English Premiership matches on television, it was good to see both sides well supported,’ read the report.
‘The first real scoring opportunity fell to Gorey Rangers after 17 minutes, but it was wasted by Danny Whitty whose tame shot was easily saved by Roy Brauders in the Rathnew goal.
‘Jonathan Quinn then missed an even better chance for Rathnew on 26 minutes, blazing the ball well wide from 10 yards after Robert Doyle had created confusion in the Gorey penalty area.
‘Rathnew were well on top in the closing stages of the half, Robert
Doyle firing a volley over the Gorey crossbar on 41 minutes.
‘But the Wexford men almost snatched the lead right on the stroke of half-time when Richard Leacy soared above the Rathnew defence to head a Vinny Finn corner goalward, only for Rathnew defender Alvin Mitchell to somehow deflect the ball onto the crossbar.
‘Barry Mernagh replaced Anthony Mernagh five minutes after the restart as Rathnew began to reshuffle the pack.
They were given a real boost on 56 minutes when Gorey’s Alan Byrne foolishly kicked out at Alan Newsome and referee Kavanagh had no option but to produce the red card.
‘Newsome then should have put Rathnew in front when he broke through into the Gorey penalty area, but his shot was well smothered by Edward ‘Bear’ Kennedy in the opposition goal.
Brauders then excelled himself by tipping over a John LKambert piledriver in the 71st minute.
Disaster struck for Rathnew on 76 minutes when Newsome was given his marching orders for punching Dicky Nolan, Kavanagh making his decision after consulting his linesman Pat McManus.’
The report goes on to describe Rathnew having one more chance, engineered by Barry Mernagh and Robert Doyle but missed by Jonathan Quinn.
It describes very little goalmouth action in extra-time and that Rathnew’s Barry Mernagh would have the two best chances but that both teams seemed happy to settle for the replay at that stage.
Rathnew AFC: Roy Brauders, Alvin Mitchell, Tommy Gill, Clifford Murphy, Chris Duffy, Robert Doyle, James Merrigan, Anthony Mernagh, Jonathon Quinn, Alan Newsome, Pat ‘Bomber’ Murphy. Subs: Barry Mernagh, Declan Sillery.
Gorey Rangers: Edward ‘Bear’ Kennedy, Ger Swords, Dicky Nolan, Paul Hempenstall, Richard Leacy, Stephen ‘Bro’ Kennedy, Danny Whitty, Alan Byrne, Donal Hosey, John Lambert, Vinny Finn. Sub: Stephen Kennedy. Referee: Andy Kavanagh. Assistants: Pat McManus, Shay Kiernan.