WICKLOW ROVERS AFC CLUB NOTES WEEK ENDING 24th MARCH 2024

The senior A team travelled to Kilcashel to take on St Patricks with a place in the last eight of the Wicklow cup up for grabs. It proved to be a typical cup tie, Rovers controlled the game for the majority of play but got hit on the break to go one down. Rovers had a couple of half chances before the home side took the lead with a powerful header in their first attack of note. The home keeper was on top of his game throughout denying Rovers on several occasions. Gareth Murphy, Ben Algera, Bryan Doyle and Lorcan Sinnott were all denied by the keeper. With seven minutes remaining the home rearguard resilience was broken, Rikki Quinn fired a shot from twenty-five yards which, the keeper turned away, but Oussama Kemouche was quickest to react to blast home the equaliser. Rovers didn’t rest on their laurels and went in search of a winner, and it came in injury time. Bryan Doyle swung over a pinpoint corner which found the head of Lorcan Sinnott to powerfully find the bottom right-hand corner of the net. The lads put in a good shift in what was a tough cup tie. As man of the match for Rovers goes, you couldn’t look beyond Bryan Doyle, he went about his business in a quiet manner but effective. His passing, short and long was excellent, he broke up any St Patricks attacks and his deliveries from set plays were on the money. An excellent all-round performance from Bryan. The B team travelled to Ryders Field to take on Premier side Glencormac United hoping to spring a surprise but on the day, it wasn’t to be as the Premier side ran out 4-1 winners to progress to the last eight of the Wicklow cup. Both sides are struggling at the bottom end of their respective divisions, Glencormac in the topflight and Rovers in division one. It was the greater experience of Premier football and home advantage that stood to the Kilmac based side on the day. Rovers never gave up trying with their consolation goal coming from Sam Brown.

Our senior ladies suffered a setback in their title pursuit when they dropped two points at home to Fastnet Rovers in a 2-2 draw. Molly Sweeney netted to bring her tally to twenty in all competitions for the season. Margaret Doyle nabbed the Rovers second goal of the game to register her first goal of the season. At crucial points of the game Rovers thought they should have been awarded penalties, but it wasn’t to be. The girls will dust themselves down and come back stronger from this.

Junior action kicked off on Thursday night at Whitegates. The 13A‘s recorded a comfortable win over Arklow United A with the lads in ruthless form in front of goal. Highlight of the night was a four-goal haul for Mikie O’Neill who impressed with some excellent finishing. Finn Murphy, AJ Long, Simon Lynch, Freddie Kavanagh and Hank Murnane all found the net in a very impressive team display.

On Saturday the 12A's recorded a good 3-1 away win over a good Newtown Juniors side. Newtown went in front from the penalty spot, but Rovers roared back with goals from Jamie Noctor, Hugo Bradshaw, and Jamie McGowan to earn all three points in a good team performance. Thanks to Newtown for an excellent game. The 12C's earned a good battling point away to Enniskerry. After falling behind the team battled back to earn a share of the spoils with a beautifully struck effort from Tomas Cunha. Rovers had chances to win the match but in the end a draw was a fair outcome. It was another good team display and another positive performance. Big thanks to Enniskerry for a competitive encounter. The 14B’s are showing great improvement of late despite a 3-2 away defeat to Enniskerry. This was a game they could have snatched something from with a bit of luck on their side, surely their day can only be around the corner. In what was a very good all round team performance there were first goals of the season for Noah Doyle and Brandon Goucher, well done lads.

On Sunday the 13B’s edged out Roundwood at Vartry Park in a tight tussle, with defences mostly on top throughout it was Rovers who sneaked the win and all three points with a winner four minutes from time. The ball dropped to Charlie Lawlor 18 yards out and he met ii lovely on the half volley to blast home his first goal of the season to claim all three points. Big thanks to Roundwood for a thrilling tussle. The 13C’s were another team who were involved in a tight affair. They took on Arklow United at Whitegates and were a shade unlucky to go down to a 1-0 defeat. The game saw two evenly matched teams go at each other from the off but both defences were strong on the day. It was another big game from Loukas Karamalis in the Rovers goal pulling off some great saves. The Rovers defence were solid throughout, Cayden O’Malley earned the man of the match accolade and was also unlucky not to score with an effort from twenty yards out. Thanks to Arklow United for an entertaining match. The 15B team came up against a very strong Shillelagh outfit at Ballard Park. Shillelagh proved too strong on the day but to the Rovers team’s credit they put in a spirited display none the less. They battled right to the final whistle.

Our annual Easter camp is proving as popular as ever with the ‘’Sold Out’’ sign been put up over a week in advance of the start. Thank you all for supporting the camp and we hope you have an enjoyable time. See you all on Tuesday 2nd of April.