- Jamie Headon
- Sun, May 25 2014
A quick-fire second-half brace from Ben Ryan was enough to see Wexford Youths come away from Tallaght Stadium on Sunday with a 2-0 victory over Shamrock Rovers 'B'. The result sees the Ferrycarrig Park side climb to second place in the SSE Airtricity League First Division table.
Wexford made the trip to Tallaght on Sunday looking to make a return to winning ways after last week's 3-1 derby defeat to Waterford United.
Rovers on the other hand were looking to build on a commendable Leinster Senior Cup performance against an experienced St. Patrick's Athletic side during the week.
The first real chance of the game fell to Wexford's Danny Furlong after eight minutes. Eric Molloy, the cause of much consternation for the Rovers rearguard throughout, started the move by making a driving run at the heart of the home defence.
Furlong then picked the ball off the toes of his offensive colleague before unleashing a shot from the edge of the box that was parried by Shane Fagan at the near post. The resultant rebound fell to Sean Skelly but Fagan was not to be beaten at the second time of asking.
Fagan was enduring a busy opening to the game and on 15 minutes he was forced into action again, this time saving a header from Cillian Cantwell after the big centre-half was picked out by a Ben Ryan cross following a well worked short corner.
With the first-half's midway point approaching, Shamrock Rovers began finding a way back into the game. The Hoops first clear-cut goalscoring opportunity came after 25 minutes when a neat passing move ended with Emeka Onwubiko coming inside onto his right foot and crossing for Jack Watson. Unfortunately for Rovers, the pint-sized midfielder could only head over Graham Doyle's crossbar after out-jumping the vertically superior visiting central defensive pairing of Cantwell and Last.
Both sides began the second-half with a greater tempo to their play, the result being an substantial increase in goalmouth activity.
Wexford were first to threaten in the second period with some brave defending from Rovers captain Corie Treacy denying Eric Molloy and Ben Ryan on two occasions in quick succession.
Jimmy Dermody did likewise for Wexford at the other end by making a last ditch tackle on Jack Watson after Stephen Confrey slipped the tenacious midfielder through on goal with a perfectly weighted pass.
Danny Furlong was next to come close to breaking the deadlock for the visitors. After being put through on goal by a defence splitting pass from Shane Dunne, the ex-Cork City man dragged a shot to the far post that forced Rovers keeper Fagan to be at full stretch.
Just as it was beginning to seem lady luck was smiling down on the Rovers back four, referee Andrew McNally awarded Wexford a penalty for a high foot in the box that saw centre-half Stephen Last receive a blow to the head.
Ben Ryan was the man entrusted with converting the spot-kick and that he did with aplomb, making no mistake in dispatching the ball to the back of the net and giving his side the lead .
Wexford subsequently sought to double their advantage and did so just thirteen minutes later with Ryan grabbing his brace by smashing the ball home from Sean Skelly's pinpoint cross.
With Colin Hawkins' young charges tiring, Wexford's dominance grew as the half wore on. With Eric Molloy roaming inside off the right flank and pulling the strings, a third goal began to look an increasingly likely proposition for Wexford.
Molloy provided assists late on for Sean Skelly and Ricky Fox to treble the Ferrycarrig Park side's lead but neither could muster finishes worthy of beating the impressive Fagan.
The result elevates Shane Keegan's side to second in the First Division table whilst Rovers remain second from bottom twelve points above basement side Cobh Ramblers.
Shamrock Rovers: Shane Fagan; Nathan Brown, Corie Treacy, Conor Dunne, Alan Keogh; Adam Whelan (Muhanned Bukhatwa 85), Cian Kavanagh, Jack Watson, Kevin Knight; Stephen Confrey (Richard Purdy 77), Emeka Onwubiko (Mark Sandford 77).
Subs not used: Michael Kelly, Liam Traynor, Conor O'Malley, Azeez Yussuff.
Wexford Youths: Graham Doyle; Craig Shortt, Cillian Cantwell, Stephen Last, Jimmy Dermody; Eric Molloy, Shane Nolan (Aidan Keenan 57), Shane Dunne, Sean Skelly (Darragh Walsh 15); Ben Ryan, Danny Furlong (Ricky Fox 90).
Subs not used: Danny Neikis, CJ Brown, Ryan Delaney.
Referee: Andrew Mullally
Attendance: 275 (estimate)
ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Eric Molloy (Wexford Youths).
