Under-15 boys shine in national shield final
Talented teens make breakthrough with derby victory
WEXFORD F.C. claimed an historic first piece of silverware at under-age level in the club with victory over Carlow/Kilkenny in the SSE Airtricity Under-15 shield final in Ferrycarrig Park on Wednesday.
Mark Doran’s side went close last season, losing in the decider of the same competition away to Dundalk.
However, there was to be no such disappointment this time around as first-half goals from Mikey Raggett and Conor Carew ensured success came to Slaneyside.
This was an exciting, end-to-end encounter from the first whistle.
If the visitors had an edge in silky link-up play and their ability to pick their opponents apart with crisp through balls, Wexford had the advantage in quick break attacks, shredding their opponents with pace and gumption in the wide areas.
It was a contrast in styles that led to a fascinating contest. Doran was keen to emphasise that Carlow/Kilkenny would bring a physical style to the contest that his side had to match, but in reality it was Wexford that bullied their opponents in the one-on-one battles.
Those individual gains, particularly in the first-half, gave the hosts a solid footing to go at their neighbours.
In truth, this game could have gone either way, but the beauty of football is it’s the goals that count, nothing else, and with Wexford able to get them, that was the clear difference between two evenly-matched outfits.
In all it was a fantastic advertisement for football at this level. The under-age leagues have their knockers, but anyone who witnessed this game couldn’t be in any doubt about how getting good football at this level brings on the quality of players.
The only disappointing aspect of a wonderful night of football was the tirade of verbal abuse received by fourth official Seamus Kelly and near side linesman Martin Kenny from a very small group of travelling ‘supporters’.
It went way beyond the ‘ah ref’ brigade. It was unwarranted, disgusting, and has no place at any game, never mind an Under-15 contest.
What was equally disappointing was that it happened right next to the Carlow/Kilkenny bench, and nobody from their side said a word in a bid to nip it in the bud.
After a slow start meant they needed a penalty shoot-out win over UCD in the last four to get to this decider, Wexford wasted no time going after this game.
Their intentions were clear in the opening ten minutes, and they nearly created a clear chance when Seán Fitzpatrick got to the byline, only for his pull-back to be cut out by goalkeeper Josh Coady.
Four minutes later Wexford took the lead. This time it was Darby Purcell getting to the byline on the left of the goal, and he flashed the ball low across the face of goal for Mikey Raggett to fire home at the back post.
Wexford were a little lucky two minutes later when Dean Owens beat Luke Murphy to Brandon Kelly’s ball into the box, but his looping header went wide.
Likewise, when he set Jamie Murphy through on the left and flashed across the face of goal, the hosts again exhaled.
In the 22nd minute Wexford got their second. Harry Curtis was involved in getting the ball across to captain Conor Carew.
The midfielder took aim from 23 yards out, with his shot deflected and skipping past Coady to the net.
Eoin Dempsey sliced a decent chance wide at the other end, and Wexford nearly paid a heavy price for an oddly set-up wall when Owens went within six inches of curling his free-kick into the top corner of Luke Murphy’s net.
Despite a few glimpses at the other end, Carlow/Kilkenny still kept creating.
Scott Roycroft missed the target on the right of goal in the 32nd minute, and Dempsey looked certain to score three minutes later, only for Conor Kelly to deflect his shot up and over the crossbar.
The travelling side were screaming for a penalty when Owens went down in the box.
Wexford didn’t dwell on things, broke down the field, and saw Raggett go around Coady, only for his pull back to be cleared off the line.
They really should have been three up in added-time at the end of the half.
Fitzpatrick fed the ball in to Sam Norval but, with just Coady to beat, the Wexford attacker couldn’t force his strike home and Carlow/ Kilkenny survived.
There was bound to be a reaction from the visitors after the interval, and for the first 15 minutes they were camped in the Wexford half.
Brandon Kelly headed narrowly wide before an Owens free-kick almost lifted the frame of the goal out of the ground when it cannoned off the crossbar.
The visitors were screaming for a penalty again a minute later when a collision between Murphy and Owens saw the Carlow/Kilkenny forward hit the deck.
Owens missed the target with two more tries but, as the game hit the 55-minute mark, the fizz went out of their challenge.
More and more they were looking to drop nonsense balls between goalkeeper and a deep-lying defence, and it just wasn’t happening.
That impatience played into Wexford’s hands, and they mopped all that up and looked the more likely to grab the game’s third goal.
Norval was almost in, only to be denied by Kyle Foley. A Brandon Rossiter overhead kick was clawed off the line by Coady and, after Purcell’s header was saved, a Keelan Byrne strike was hooked from under the crossbar.
The game got fragmented late on, not helped by an unfortunate injury to Owens, and Wexford were able to play out the heavy dose of added-time with not so much as a scare to keep the shield with them in Ferrycarrig Park.
Wexford F.C.: Luke Murphy; Robbie O’Toole, Brandon Rossiter, Conor Kelly, Morgan Ellis; Conor Carew (capt.); Mikey Raggett, Sam Norval, Harry Curtis, Seán Fitzpatrick; Darby Purcell. Subs. (rolling) - Nikodem Czernik, Keelan Byrne, Ewan Russell, Eoghan Ó Lionáin, Harry Lloyd, James Boland, Max Stone.
Carlow/Kilkenny: Josh Coady; Kyle Foley, Evin Rudkins, Jamie Furlong; Jack Byrne (capt.); Scott Roycroft, Eoin Dempsey, Brandon Kelly, Cathal Kennedy; Jamie Murphy, Dean Owens. Subs. (rolling) - Tom Maloney, Cillian Hackett, Aaron Dorgan, Andrew Synoradski, Shane Duffy, Peter Grogan, Che Delaney-Scott, Cian Ward.
Referee: Alan Franklin (Wexford).