Improved Garden put London to the sword
LONDON came calling to Joule Park Aughrim last Sunday afternoon but they were undone by an improved Wicklow outfit, poor discipline on their part and chronic conditions as Johnny Magee’s men got their first points on the board in Division 4.
Teeming rain, horrendous underfoot conditions and a gusting wind made the playing of attractive football an impossible task, but Wicklow still managed to produce a decent hour of controlled and effective dismantling of the visitors whose cause was doomed with the sending off of two men either side of the half-time break.
Sunday morning brought the heavy rain and the national headlines of Johnny Magee calling for an all-out strike by county players following the introduction of the ‘Super 8’ change to the Senior football championship from 2018.
And it’s not hard to see why county players in the likes of Division 4 can feel abandoned and forgotten about when you see what the footballers of Wicklow and London were faced with on Sunday as they battled before a crowd of barely over 100 people.
The mood was so bleak in Joule Park Aughrim that the scoreboard decided to not cooperate on the day and after the early stages of the action the pitch tore up badly and that, along with the strong wind, made life very difficult for all involved.
London came into this game on the back of a strong showing against Carlow where they got out of Netwatch Cullen Park with a 2-16 to 0-15 victory against the team that had drawn to Westmeath away in their opener, so Ciaran Deely’s men were most certainly a serious threat to Johnny Magee’s side and a defeat on Sunday for the Garden County would have been very damaging as it would have left the county in the very real danger of a whitewash of defeats in this year’s campaign.
However, it wasn’t long into the game on Sunday before it became obvious that Wicklow were showing real signs of improvement from their opening two games and in Seanie Furlong they had someone who had most certainly packed their shooting boots.
Wicklow lined out with the twoman full-forward line of Seanie Furlong and Paul Cunningham and they also had the benefit of the strong wind for the opening 35 minutes as they faced towards the town end goal.
Like a good bowl of porridge in the morning, it’s always nice to have a quality point to start you off on your day and team captain Stephen Kelly provided that hearty boost when he lobbed over a screamer off his left after a lovely ball from John McGrath.
Fine defensive work by Darren Hayden repelled an early London attack before the Éire Óg Greystones man turned provider with a superb ball down the stand side to Seanie Furlong who gathered, turned and fired over a tremendous point to ease Wicklow out to a two-point advantage early on.
Wicklow were impressing with their feverish pressing on the London players as they emerged from their own half with Conor Ffrench and Darren Hayden especially busy in that department.
As the rain got heavier it was Wicklow who continued to play the better football and it was only good work from corner-back Philip Butler that prevented Paul Cunningham from pointing after he had been picked out by an Anthony McLoughlin ball from midfield.
The Bray man dealt with the terrible conditions really well but fired wide under pressure.
John McGrath fired wide shortly afterwards before Cunningham would be provided with anther opportunity and he casually stroked this one over the black spot to increase Wicklow’s lead as they settled down to their task.
London were very limited in attack with ball handling skills a key reason for their lack of success. Full-forward Liam Gavaghan was presented with a real chance for a point but blazed wide when he should have done better.
A pull back by Dean Healy on Mark Gottsche as he thundered through the Wicklow heartland provided London with their first easy chance for a score and Rory Mason converted to leave it 0-03 to 0-01 in favour of the home side.
It was now monsoon like conditions in Aughrim with the rain spilling from the charcoal sky but that didn’t stop Stephen Kelly trotting in to the London half like a stag and passing across to Paddy Byrne who calmly screwed over a lovely point from the edge of the D.
A high percentage of Wicklow attacks were beginning in or coming through the hands of Darren Hayden who was producing one of his really excellent displays of reliable football and he provided the ball to Conor Ffrench who fired in a beauty of a pass to Seanie Furlong who cleverly let the ball and the slippy conditions combine to beat full-back Caoimhin Carty and Furlong gathered and headed for goal.
Houses, cars, even children would have been wagered on the Kiltegan man scoring but his well placed shot was saved by Conor Hallissey and out for a 45. Up stepped Robert Lambert and through a veil of rain he split the posts with a fine effort.
London made their first substitute after 12 minutes and they scored their second point after 20 when Rory Mason romped up the field while being chased by Dean Healy and the Kingdom Kerry Gaels man dropped over a sweet score to complete their first half scoring.
Three converted frees from Furlong were followed by the dismissal of Rory Mason by referee Alan Kissane from Waterford. The