A fantastic away win at Emo Celtic, Co. Laois today for our U14s team in the SFAI National cup. With a lot of our team missing for various reasons, and only 10 of our own lads available to play, we were lucky and very grateful to get some quality support from some our B team, to ensure we had some solid back up for this match.
The first half was a bit tentative and cagey as both teams weighed each other up. The breakthrough came from Emo first, as Methil the B team keeper saved a well struck free kick, however the Emo forwards were quickest to react from the rebound to slot home. Our lads rallied well and were quick to reply after some nice play on the right wing between Hugo and Charlie, when the ball broke through for Brendan, who used his pace a strength to get ahead of the Emo defence and coolly slot home to make it 1-1.
Wicklow were growing into the game, and Sam and Charlie started to boss the midfield, as we probed for a second. However against the run of play, Emo were next to strike a few minutes from half time. A breaking ball came across the box to the back post where the unmarked on rushing winger finished well into the top corner for 2-1.
After a rallying call at half time the lads came out all guns blazing and took the game to Emo. It was mostly one way traffic for Rovers, but we had to deal with some dangerous counter attacks, with some quality aggressive defending, the back four of Tomasz, Aaron, MJ and Johnny kept them at bay. The equaliser again came from the right wing with some good play from Hugo, laying the ball back to MJ to whip the ball into the box where Brendan met it with a beautiful glancing header into the top corner.
It was game on, and Wicklow pushed for the winner which just didn’t come in ordinary time. Into extra time then and Rovers were starting to turn the screw. A free kick from MJ came back off the post and the follow up from Zak struck the crossbar. Soon after an MJ corner was met by a towering bullet header from Charlie who again hit the crossbar. We were wondering was it going to be our day. The match ended 2-2 and for the second week running the lads faced a penalty shootout.
Our lads, Hugo, Sam and Aaron smashed home there pens and with Emo only scoring one, missing two and Methil saving the fourth, it was enough for us to take the honours and march on into the next round. A big thanks to the B team players Methil, Johnny, Luca and Brendan for bailing us out today. It was a real quality contribution lads.
A very enjoyable game to watch, and some fantastic individual performances where the work rate and team work was immense. Man of the match had so many contenders, but was just edged by Brendan with his superb brace. Well done lads, you deserved your win today, and on we go now to next round ⚽️💚🤍⚽️
The first half was a bit tentative and cagey as both teams weighed each other up. The breakthrough came from Emo first, as Methil the B team keeper saved a well struck free kick, however the Emo forwards were quickest to react from the rebound to slot home. Our lads rallied well and were quick to reply after some nice play on the right wing between Hugo and Charlie, when the ball broke through for Brendan, who used his pace a strength to get ahead of the Emo defence and coolly slot home to make it 1-1.
Wicklow were growing into the game, and Sam and Charlie started to boss the midfield, as we probed for a second. However against the run of play, Emo were next to strike a few minutes from half time. A breaking ball came across the box to the back post where the unmarked on rushing winger finished well into the top corner for 2-1.
After a rallying call at half time the lads came out all guns blazing and took the game to Emo. It was mostly one way traffic for Rovers, but we had to deal with some dangerous counter attacks, with some quality aggressive defending, the back four of Tomasz, Aaron, MJ and Johnny kept them at bay. The equaliser again came from the right wing with some good play from Hugo, laying the ball back to MJ to whip the ball into the box where Brendan met it with a beautiful glancing header into the top corner.
It was game on, and Wicklow pushed for the winner which just didn’t come in ordinary time. Into extra time then and Rovers were starting to turn the screw. A free kick from MJ came back off the post and the follow up from Zak struck the crossbar. Soon after an MJ corner was met by a towering bullet header from Charlie who again hit the crossbar. We were wondering was it going to be our day. The match ended 2-2 and for the second week running the lads faced a penalty shootout.
Our lads, Hugo, Sam and Aaron smashed home there pens and with Emo only scoring one, missing two and Methil saving the fourth, it was enough for us to take the honours and march on into the next round. A big thanks to the B team players Methil, Johnny, Luca and Brendan for bailing us out today. It was a real quality contribution lads.
A very enjoyable game to watch, and some fantastic individual performances where the work rate and team work was immense. Man of the match had so many contenders, but was just edged by Brendan with his superb brace. Well done lads, you deserved your win today, and on we go now to next round ⚽️💚🤍⚽️
