Rovers dump out the holders
at Ryder’s Field GLENCORMAC UNITED WICKLOW ROVERS 1 2
HOLDERS Glencormac United were sensationally dumped out of the Wicklow Senior Cup by Wicklow Rovers in the initial defence of their title at Ryder’s Field on Sunday afternoon.
Winners over Rathnew AFC by a 4-2 margin in last season’s final at the Carlisle Grounds in early June, the Kilmacanogue side seldom performed with their customary fluency, cohesion and overall effectiveness against their Wicklow Town opponents, who were probably the hungrier side on the day.
After going into arrears as a result of an excellent finish by Luca Rampersaud on 21 minutes, Glencormac still trailed by the minimum margin at the half-time break.
But 11 minutes into the second half the home side battled back to parity when Sam O’Callaghan beat visiting goalkeeper Ian Murphy.
However, nine minutes from time, Wicklow Rovers restored their advantage, sub Brian Cornyn beating home netminder Eoin English from close range, and, despite facing subsequent considerable pressure from their opponents, Rovers maintained their advantage to the final whistle.
However, almost on the stroke of full-time, the visiting side had good reason to be thankful to the goalkeeping expertise of Murphy, who pulled off a tremendous save from a close range effort by United centre-half Martin Sustuvious.
The first serious attacking threat of the contest materialised after nine minutes, when Rovers’ Rampersaud, son of the manager Boodhan Rampersaud, fired narrowly wide of the left upright.
A minute later, the visitors’ Brian Harrington tidied up a dangerous United attack, and almost immediately his goalkeeping teammate Murphy was called into action, capably dealing with a shot from Nay Waters.
On 15 minutes, Rovers’ defender Simon Phillips made a great block, and six minutes later his teammate Rampersaud opened the scoring when he expertly latched on to a deflected back-pass to fire past goalkeeper English.
Shortly afterwards, Rovers’ Brian Harrington failed to get in sufficient power in his shot to trouble English, and then the action switched to the other end of the field with United’s Josh O’Callaghan driving wide of the right post.
Coming up to half-time, Rovers’ Alan Power fired in a dangerous cross from the left wing, but goalkeeper Murphy underlined his capabilities by making an excellent catch.
And just before the break, the home side’s Sam O’Callaghan delivered in a teasing free-kick towards the Rovers’ goal, but none of his teammates managed to get on the end of it.
On the restart, just 11 minutes had elapsed when United managed to level proceedings, the visiting defence being caught out when Sam O’Callaghan gained possession on the right side of the goal and beat Murphy with an angled shot.
Shortly afterwards, defender Robert Keogh was only narrowly wide for Rovers, and 10 minutes from time the visitors had a penalty appeal turned down, before almost immediately regaining the lead when Dean Noble and sub Jack Kelly were involved before his fellow replacement Cornyn beat goalkeeper English from close range.
Afterwards, a delighted Wicklow Rovers’ manager Irish-born Boohan Rampersaud, whose father is from Guyana (South America) and whose mother is from Carlow, said: “We’ve been in transition for the last two years, but there’s now a good base in Wicklow Town. We’ve got some very committed players who really want to win and compete against the teams in the premier division.
“And today showed that we are able to compete in the Premier and against the best in the Premier even though this is only our first year in this division.
“We have a very young team as the average age is only about 19 or 20 years. And most of the players who are in that age bracket I’ve been managing since they were playing at under-eight level.
“In fact, the core base of this team is players who have been playing for Wicklow Rovers from all the way up.
“They have a lot to learn but they are learning very quickly. And they’re committed as well, so the right mentality is there and days like today are a fitting reward for all the hard work that they put in over the weeks in training.
“Ian Murphy is a fantastic goalkeeper and his tremendous save right at the end was crucial in preventing us from having to battle it out in extra time. But really all the lads who were out there on the pitch today made a tremendous contribution to the win,
“Despite the fact that Glencormac equalised early in the second half, we didn’t change our plan in the game. We kept pressing high up the pitch, and we’ve got the pace to do that.
“Equally, we’ve got lots of really solid guys at the back and in midfield, so we’ve got a really good balance throughout the team, with a mix of youth and the more experienced guys. And we’ve got a great leader and captain in Brian Harrington, who plays in the middle of the pitch.”
A disappointed Glencormac United manager Andy Bishop remarked: “We just weren’t at the races today, it just happens sometimes. But we’ll move on, we’ll learn from it and the best of luck to Wicklow. Today, they were the better side and they deserved their win.
“So we could have no complaints, they were hungrier for it, and they played some great football.
“The pitch wasn’t great, but both teams were on the same pitch. So we have no excuses.
“But sometimes things like this happen, we’ve have a great season so far. We’ve just to keep going and learn our lessons from this.”
Eoin English; Ian Devlin, Sam O’Callaghan, Martin Sustvious, Luke O’Callaghan. Ben O’Callaghan, Luke Reynolds, Simon Doyle, Josh O’Callaghan, Nay Waters. Ryan Nolan.
GLENCORMAC UNITED: WICKLOW ROVERS:
Ian Murphy; Simon Philips, Fundi Mlino, Hugh Humby, Robert Keogh, Brian Harrington. Jamie Power, Dean Noble, Luca Rampersaud, Alan Power, Riain Sweetman. Subs: Matthew Traynor for Hugh Humby (12), Brain Cornyn for Jamie Power (59), Jack Kelly for Alan Power (75), Stephen Finlay for Riain Sweetman (82).
REFEREE:
Jason Forde