Magic night for Wicklow Rovers in Polikoff Cup

WICKLOW ROVERS COLLINSTOWN FC 2 0

THE Wicklow Rovers senior side welcomed Collinstown FC to Whitegates last Friday night for the Polikoff Cup quarter-final and as opponents go they don’t come any bigger than the Leinster Junior Cup holders.

The away side made the early running, pushing Rovers back to the edge of their own penalty area but in those early minutes the defence of Mark O’Sullivan, Ian Brannigan, David Rowan and Rikki Quinn dealt comfortably with the assault on the Rovers rearguard.

It was the home side who created the first clear cut chance when Ciaran McGettigan raced onto a long ball out of defence to chip the advancing keeper and with the net unguarded the ball just drifted wide as Gareth Murphy agonisingly went close to turning it in.

Three minutes later. Murphy’s cross had the keeper scurrying across his line as the ball just cleared the bar and dropped onto the back of the net.

On 21 minutes, Collinstown went close with an effort that was just off target. On the half hour mark Shane Doyle in the Rovers goal came to his sides rescue with a superb save from a vicious shot. Rovers straight away went up the other end and Luke Byrne’s trickery was causing all sorts of problems for the away defence, he was hauled down 30 yards out, Maurice Dunne took the resulting free kick and was just off target.

Rovers were very much in the game and were starting to believe they could take a big scalp here. On 36 minutes Ciaran McGettigan was set away out wide on the left, McGettigan attacked the Collinstown defence at pace, cut in and fired across the keeper into the far right hand corner of the net to spark wild celebrations.

The game was now nip and tuck, Peter Finnegan was turning in another wonderful display in the engine room and he was ably assisted by the hard-working Tommy Kelly.

Right on the stroke of halftime Collinstown thought they’d levelled matters. Shane Doyle pulled off a magnificent save but the breaking ball was tucked away by a Collinstown player only to be ruled out by the referee’s assistant who deemed he was standing in an offside position.

The half-time whistle sounded, and Rovers went in at the break 1-0 to the good. The first ten minutes of the second period were going to be crucial and to Wicklow Rovers’ credit they more than matched their higher ranked opponents limiting them to the long ball which the Rovers defence mopped up every time.

Shane Doyle was acting as a sweeper coming out and cleaning any high ball over the top. Disaster struck on 68 minutes and it came from an unusual source, a floodlight failure which threatened a premature end to the game.

This would have been cruel on the Wicklow lads as they were performing to the top of their game and were well in the hunt to produce a major shock. Luckily power was resumed, and it was game on again.

With 18 minutes left on the clock Rovers were in dream land. A free kick was swung over from the right and was met by the head of Tommy Kelly to guide the ball home to ripple the back of the net to set off the celebrations once again.

With Rovers now two up it was theirs to lose but they were in no mood to give anything away with every player in a green and white jersey laying their body on the line for the cause.

With 12 minutes remaining Collinstown went close but their effort sailed over into the night time sky. On 80 minutes Shane Doyle made a neat save to prevent the away side pulling one back.

The last chance of note for Collinstown came with seven minutes left on the clock but their shot shaved the outside of the post and rebounded away to safety.

The home side saw out the closing minutes without any scares to claim a major scalp and record a famous victory.

The defence of Mark O’Sullivan, Ian Brannigan, David Rowan, Rikki Quinn and Alan Delaney when introduced as a second half substitute were superb all night, to hold Collinstown scoreless for 90 minutes was a magnificent achievement.

The midfield quartet of Peter Finnegan, Tommy Kelly, Maurice Dunne and Luke Byrne were excellent, working hard around the pitch while also backing up their defence and attack. Up front, Ciaran McGettigan and Gareth Murphy’s pace was causing the away side all sorts of problems not giving them a minute’s peace.

When it comes to man of the match for the game you could choose any one of the players out on the pitch, but the nod goes to goalkeeper Shane Doyle.

The reason for Shane’s nomination was he made three magnificent saves at crucial times in the game. He also acted as an extra sweeper coming off his line to mop up long balls over the top. Add to this his safe handling under the high ball late on is another reason why Shane just shades it from his fellow team mates.

All in all, this was a superb team effort from everyone on and off the pitch plus the management team of Greg Dunne, Denis Vickers and Richie Fitzpatrick who are doing sterling work moulding the team.

Rovers will now be hoping for a home draw in the semi-final, but for the moment they can enjoy a famous night for the club.

Also, on Tuesday night they defeated Ratoath Harps at Whitegates, winning 3-1 to keep themselves very much in the promotion mix. Maurice Dunne, Gareth Murphy and Luke Byrne scored their goals on the night.

Shane Doyle, Mark O’Sullivan, Ian Brannigan, David Rowan, Rikki Quinn, Tommy Kelly, Peter Finnegan, Luke Byrne, Maurice Dunne, Gareth Murphy, Ciaran McGettigan. SUBS: Alan Delaney, Jim Foley, Mark Johnson, Rossa Marron, Greg Dunne, Sean Tobin.