UNITED IN SUCCESS
Arklow side dispose of battling Aughrim Rangers side
ARKLOW UNITED AUGHRIM RANGERS 4 1
ARKLOW UNITED hosted league rivals Aughrim Rangers in the U18s John Tobin Youth League in what turned out to be an impressive performance from the Arklow men putting four goals past their opponents.
The game began with both teams looking to get an early goal, but it was clear to see from the first five minutes that the Aughrim defence would be under a lot of pressure throughout the game.
Arklow’s front man Jamie Redmond was the out ball for the home side as United looked at hitting the striker with long balls over the top in the hope Redmond would get on the end of one and challenge the Aughrim keeper Jamie Howes, but unfortunately for the striker his control of the ball let him down on a couple of occasions and Howes was quick off his line to pick up the loose balls.
Arklow United struck first and opened the scoring on the 13th minute after a tidy finish from Adam Lennon.
Christian Roche picked up pos- session in the centre of midfield and looked like he was going to test the Aughrim defence but just as centre back Dylan Lynch went to put the midfielder under pressure Roche spotted Lennon making a run in behind the away sides defence and chipped the ball into his team mate who lobbed the keeper from just on the edge of the penalty area. A great assist from Roche and an even better finish from Lennon.
Aughrim grew into the game towards the end of the first half and had numerous of opportunities in front of goal to level the scoring but the away side just couldn’t find the back of the net.
The best chance for Aughrim came on the 32nd minute mark when Ciaran Byrne looked like he was going to finish off a great counter attack and build up play from his side but Byrne blasted the ball over the bar.
The home side were awarded a penalty just before half-time as Lennon was tripped just inside the penalty area by Ben Stephenson who was lucky not to be shown a red card as he was the last man. Jamie Redmond took the ball and put his side two goals ahead with a powerfully struck penalty.
Aughrim grabbed a goal back just two minutes after the restart with a corner kick that was defended by the home side but the clearance fell to Gearoid Donoghue who fired the ball home to give his side a chance of a comeback with being now just one goal behind.
The away side started to push men forward with the attempt of getting an equaliser and try get something out of the game before the final whistle but as Aughrim pushed men forward they failed to continue their defensive duties and Arklow United punished them with two quick goals in succession.
The third goal came from some great footwork from Lennon who beat two defenders before unselfishly squaring the ball to John Higgins who had an easy finish to the net.
Jamie Fernandez completed the rout and gave the away side no hope of a comeback after he sealed the full three points when he reacted first to find the back of the net after Christian Roche’s free kick rebounded out to the attacker who took his shot first time.
A day to forget for Aughrim who should have hit the back of the net on multiple occasions but it just wasn’t to be for the travelling side who go away disappointed as they didn’t perform that badly despite the score line, whilst the men from Arklow climb up the table to put pressure on Ashford Rovers who sit in second place.
Arklow Town: 1. Dean Flood Hayes, 2. Trevor Fitzgerald, 3. Conor Mc Loughlin, 4. Dean Doyle,
5. Joe Forde, 6. John Higgins, 7. Kieron Chong, 8. Christian Roche, 9. Darnell Nobbs, 10. Jamie Redmond, 11. Adam Lennon. Subs: Jamie Fernandez for Jamie Redmond (45min), Jake Kinsella for Trevor Fitzgerald (45min), Sean Davenport for Darnell Nobbs (61min), Jack Flynn for Adam Lennon (80min)
Aughrim Rangers: 1. Jamie Howes, 2. Cian Thayer, 3. Darragh Keegan, 4. Dylan Lynch,
5. Ben Stephenson, 6. Aaron Gamon, 7. Conor Connolly, 8. Jordan Quigley, 9. Shaun Doyle,
10. Gearoid Donogue, 11. Ciaran Byrne. Subs: Jack Healy for Shaun Doyle (45min), Oisin Okotete for Ciaran Byrne (61min), Kyle Brady for Dylan Lynch (72min).
Referee: Tony Doran