No joy for Wicklow as schools team bow out
Louth Schools prove more efficent in Abbotstown
A super goal from Louth Schools midfielder Evan Maher after 57 minutes was the key score that sent Wicklow Schools crashing out of the Top Oil Leinster Senior Football ‘A’ championship in a bitterly cold Abboststown last Saturday.
It was a major that had been coming and it put a fair reflection on the scoreboard of 1-7 to 0-5 in favour of the Wee County students against a Wicklow Schools side who were both wasteful in front of the posts and prone to bad errors when in possession.
Had Wicklow Schools brought their shooting boots then they might have continued their journey in a competition that they thrived in last year when they reached the provincial decider only to fall to Naas CBS in the decider.
However, when you cough up the scores they did against a very handy team like Louth Schools then you are going to pay the price and an early exit from the competition is the bill the Garden County side were forced to pay.
Wicklow Schools had a very healthy start to this game, opening up a 0-2 to 0-0 lead in the early stages with lovely scores from Brian Crowe and Tadhg Barrett and they also had a decent goal chance from the boot of Oisin Cullen with the An Tochar man’s shot lashing the side netting of the Louth Schools goal.
It was a full 19 minutes before Louth Schools managed to get off the mark in this game as the few pockets of brave supporters stood in cowering huddles against a freezing cross-field wind that caused havoc throughout this game.
That’s not to say they didn’t have their chances in that opening 19 minutes, they most certainly did, dropping three balls short to Wicklow Schools goalkeeper Tristan O’Connor as they failed to adapt to the wind and the busy defending of their opponents.
That opening score arrived from the boot of impressive corner-forward James McWeeney who dropped over a bomb off the outside of his right and, 60 seconds later, he had the sides level at 0-2 apiece.
The Louth students upped their game from here and began to dominate around the middle third and profit from a glut of wayward ball from their Wicklow opponents who just don’t seem to have turned up fully for this encounter and were missing the likes of Zach Cullen and Cillian McDonald in a big way.
A high ball from the industrious Cian Sands was met by the punch of full-forward Carl Gillespie for a fine point after patient probing of the populous and deep Wicklow
Schools defence.
The warning light was now flashing for the Wicklow students as the Louth side were starting to dictate matters in a big way and they would register three wides in the closing stages of the half before a poor kick-out from the Garden County side afforded Sean Healy a golden chance to raise a white flag and he duly obliged to leave it 0-4 to 0-2 at the break.
A short free from Sean Healy to Carl Gillespie allowed the Louth Schools full-forward get the scoreboard moving at the start of the second half but they will be conscious of missed chances ahead of the meeting with St Pat’s of Navan with Tom Grey forcing Tristan O’Connor into a save from close range and several loose balls going harmlessly wide.
Wicklow’s Aaron Kennedy, who got very little change out of Peter Lynch, swung over a free to make it 0-6 to 0-3 in favour of the Louth students and singles from Evan Maher and James McWeeney pushed the Wee County side out to a healthy and deserved 0-7 to 0-3 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Then one of the turning points of the game arrived. Good play from Wicklow Schools’ Tom Moran and Sean Doody saw the Wicklow midfielder find his colleague Sean Coffey who flicked on to Moran who found full-forward Kennedy in front of goal, but he blasted wide as Niall Brady spread himself nice and big.
A point from Brian Crowe brought the Wicklow side back to within a score at 0-7 to 0-4 and they would narrow that gap to two before the excellent Evan Maher got on the end of a super move to fire home past O’Connor for the decisive score.
Carl Gillespie finished the scoring with a point when he probably should have had a goal, but the damage was done, and the job was Oxo as they say.
This was a disappointing exit for a talented bunch of players. Wicklow Schools had good showings from Tom Moran, Sean Doody and Brian Crowe while Malachy Stone did his best to hold a useful Carl Gillespie.
The Louth Schools side move on to face St Pat’s on Navan in the quarter-finals.
Scorers – Louth Schools: Evan Maher 1-1, James McWeeney 0-3, Carl Gillespie 0-2, Tom Grey 0-1, Sean Healy 0-1.
Wicklow Schools: Brian Crowe 0-2, Aaron Kennedy 0-2 (2f), Tadgh Barrett 0-1.
LOUTH SCHOOLS: Niall Brady; Jay Crawley, Peter Lynch, Bobby Butterly; Cian Sands, Tom Jackson, Paraic McKenny; Tiernan Costigan, Evan Maher; Oisin McKenna, Sean Healy, James McDonnell; James McWeeney, Carl Gillespie, Tom Grey. Subs: Liam O’Donnell, Aaron Carolan, Ian Arnold, Darren Connor, Gerard White, Rory Hanlon, Paraic Downey, Oisin Milland, Eoghan Ryan, Ewan Sweeney, Pierce Hulme.
WICKLOW SCHOOLS: Tristan O’Connor (Blessington CC); Jordan Brady (Coláiste Craobh Abhann), Malachy Stone (Coláiste Chill Mhantáin), Cormac Roe (Blessington); Oisin Cullen (Coláiste Craobbh Abhann), Tom Moran (St. Kevin’s CC), Daniel Hedderman (Coláiste Bhríde Carnew); Sean Doody (Scoil Chonglais), Sean Coffey (Coláiste Chill Mhantáin); Craig Maguire (Blessington CC), Brian Crowe (St. Kevin’s CC), Tadhg Barrett (St. Kevin’s CC); Shane Daly (St Kevin’s CC), Aaron Kennedy (St. Kevin’s CC), Mikey O’Rourke (St. Kevin’s CC). Subs: Gavin O’Shea (Pres Bray), Ryan Mulvey, Cian Hynes (Templecarrig Greystones), Cillian Keane (Templecarrig Greystones), Jack Sammon ((Blessington CC), Bradley Hickey (Coláiste Bhríde), Robbie Miley (St. Kevin’s CC).