CLUB CALL
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 of the season and a second of the season from man of the match Ben Bowen who turned in a very impressive display. This was an excellent performance to reverse the result of last week.
Sunday’s junior action saw only one game in the competitive section and that was the under-15Bs second leg of their Challenge Cup game at home to Carnew.
Going into the game the lads held a 4-3 lead and they made no slip ups as they saw off Carnew 4-0 at Whitegates to complete an aggregate score of 8-3.
Adam Shepherd netted a brace to bring his tally to six for the season with Keevan Doyle also hitting two goals, which gives him four for the season.
Our Last Man Standing competition moves on to round 7 which will take place in midweek, in round 6 we lost four players on Bournemouth after they could only manage a scoreless draw with Swansea with one player who was on Swansea also failing to progress.
Four more players went out after Newcastle let them down losing 3-0 at home to Watford, Leicester’s 1-1 draw with West Ham on Friday night saw a further three players exit the competition. Stoke’s 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace meant one player went out.
Another single player failed to progress when Everton went down 4-1 to Southampton.
Burnley’s last minute concession of a penalty to Arsenal saw them lose 1-0 to the Gunners, this result meant we lost one more player but three players progressed on Arsenal.
Of the remaining players that progressed 12 players made it through on the back of Manchester United’s somewhat lucky 1-0 home win over Brighton, three players made it to round 7 after Southampton defeated Everton 4-1, one player progressed after their inspired selection Watford easily saw off Newcastle winning 3-0 at St James Park.
Manchester City’s narrow 2-1 win over Huddersfield saw a further two players move in to round 7.
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 in the competition and battling to be the first player to win the competition for a second time, no pressure Greg.
What this means now is that we have 21 players battling it out for the title of Last Man Standing and the €500 prize. Good luck to all remaining players and once again a big thanks to everyone for taking part in our competition, your continuous support is very much appreciated.
Anyone with information for the club notes or the club website can contact me at 087 9108706 or e-mail me at jimmy.nolan09@ hotmail.com.
For all news regarding the club, check out the club website at www. wicklowrovers.com or the club Facebook page.
BRAY WANDERERS
Lotto draw - There was no jackpot winner on November 26. Numbers drawn were 7, 16, 20, and 29. €30 lucky dip winners were Martin Harvey c/o Bray Lakers, Stephen McGuire c/o C. Kavanagh, Lenny Lennox c/o C. Kavanagh, Dave Loughrey c/o Hibo, Tommy McGarry c/o Bray Lakers. Next week’s jackpot is €11,675.
Lotto tickets can be purchased on line at our web site www.braywanderersfc.ie.
Lotto tickets are just €2 each. You can also play the Lotto through the MyClubFinances. com Mobile App which is now available to download for iPhones and Android.
It’s free to download and use and stay in touch with Bray Wanderers news with mobile alerts. Once downloaded you can add Bray Wanderers as your favourite club.
So, you can now play the club lotto, receive club news updates all from the comfort of your mobile device. Simply go to the App store and search for “MCF”.
NEWTOWN JUNIORS
Unfortunately for our under-11s their game last weekend at home to Ark low United was postponed due to circumstances outside our control.
Both our under-8s and 9s played away to their respective Wicklow Rovers counterparts and both teams overcame the wintry conditions to play out some highly entertaining football.
For the 8s, Nathan Donohoe, Tyler Doyle, David McCormack and Erik Lis were to fore in their game while for the 9s among the players who shone were Nathan McMahon, Alex Ryan, Leon O’Connor and JV Kelly.
Well done to the under-8s players who stepped in to help out the under-9s after five of their squad were unavailable due to illness etc.
Our under-10s hosted St. Patricks from Avoca and the game ended all square 3-all. Pats raced into a two-goal lead but goals from Aidan Heffernan, Pat Carey and Max Roche gave the ‘Bens’ a narrow advantage at half-time.
Pats scored a third to make sure the spoils were shared.
On the day Frank Lang, Aaron Roy and Ryan Collins were among the players who starred.
For the second week in a row our 12s lost away to Rathnew as they exited the 12s/13s Challenge Cup after a 3-1 defeat. Patrick Martin scored the Newtown goal from a free kick and he along with Hannah Martin and Jack Coughlan were Newtown’s star performers.
Our under-14s had no game last weekend. Well done to Shane Synnott from our under-14s who was part of the WDSL squad who played Kilkenny in the Inter League competition. The game took place in Arklow (Lamberton).
Our Last Man Standing compe- tition heads into Week 5 with 52 players still standing after Week 4 as we lost ten players.
It’s €450 for the winner of the competition and you can keep up to date with the LMS on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Many thanks to everyone who supported this fundraiser, it is very much appreciated.
Four of our players celebrate their birthdays in the coming week and they are Finn Heffernan from the Development Squad, JV McCullagh-Kelly from the under-9s, Rose Kelly-Tynan from the under-11s and Luke Breen from the under-14s.
Last week also saw two of our coaches, Rory Hackett and Stephen Nolan, celebrate a birthday.
Happy birthday all from everyone at Newtown Juniors F.C.
For further information on all matters Newtown Juniors F.C. please contact the secretary at 087 6987653 or by email to hughienolan@gmail.com and you can also follow the club on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
INDOOR BOWLS
Kildare West Wicklow Indoor Bowling Association (KWWIBA)
Baltinglass/Kiltegan Win Cup At First Attempt - The KWWIBA Club Championship came to its conclusion on Sunday, November 19, after three consecutive Sundays.
In the Cup competition final, Kildare Town came up against the west Wicklow team Baltinglass/ Kiltegan. Both of those teams had to see off some very stiff opposition on their way to the final.
Kildare were the slight favourites due to the fact of having an abundance of experience players on their side. Whereas their opponents having an even mixture of experience and inexperience in their team would have been expected to come up short in what would be anticipated to be a close encounter.
This competition, being a 12-person team played on three mats with the result decided on the aggregate scores of the three, would leave no room for any complacency by the players involved.
For long periods of the game it looked like the favourites would just edge it, albeit they never had a comfortable or commanding lead at any time in the match.
It all came down to the third mat where Baltinglass/Kiltegan came with a late blitz to secure the scores and see them over the line on a score of 48/39.
This was a great achievement, their first time to contest the final and win it at the first attempt, especially against such formidable opponents.
Baltinglass/Kiltegan: Michael Zaidel, Pat Fleming, Joey Fagan, John Kehoe, Ken Hannon, Damien Daly, Colin Jackson, Pat Brazil, Angus McDonagh, Edward Lawrence and David Evans, Caroline McGuinness and sub Derek Kavanagh.
Kildare Town: Jimmy Rowan, Cliff Baker, Eddie Heffernan, Fintan Downey, Margaret Gorry, Tommy Martin, Jim Condron, John McLoughlin, Mark Caldwell, Una Downey, Frank Connolly, Richie Baker and subs Hugh Kelly, Pat Baker.
Caragh Ease Through Final - The Shield final was contested between Caragh and Ardclough and a fine game was anticipated between these two sides. Caragh would most certainly be the favourites in this one, having been surprisingly knocked out of the Cup in the earlier rounds.
Unfortunately, after a short period into the game it was obvious that Ardclough were completely off their game on this occasion, not alone on one mat but all three. With the Ardclough players on the three mats continuing to struggle it was just going to be a ‘stroll in the park’ for a Caragh team that were just relentless and never allowed their opponents any respite from start to finish.
So Caragh just eased through this final on a scoreline of 60/33, while Ardclough will be shocked at how they underperformed given the high standard they usually set and adhere to.
Caragh: Dominic Kavanagh, John Doyle, Martin Lynch, John Murphy, Timmy Wright, Pat Dolly, Dick Meagher, John O’Toole, Denis Judge, Rita O’Rourke, Christy McDonald, John Joe Byrne and subs Mick Murphy, Phil Ryan.
Ardclough: Oliver Farrell, Geraldine Maguire, Leo Tiernan, Ben Maguire, Margaret Fogarty, Olivia Maguire, Brian Cullen, Tony Maguire, Loreto Farrell, Dom Maguire, Noel Cassidy, Nina Delmer and sub Ellen Farrell.
Recent League Results (home team first)
Division 3: Donard-The Glen 5, Ryston 0.
Division 4: Ardclough, 0 Kill 5; Balyna 0, Rathcoffey 5.