WICKLOW ROVERS AFC CLUB NOTES WEEK ENDING 7th MAY 2023

The WDFL team turned in what was their best performance of the season on Wednesday night. They travelled to take on third placed Arklow United in Arklow Credit Union Park and returned home with all three points with an impressive 4-1 victory. Lorcan Sinnott put in an excellent display of finishing with a superb hat-trick. Shane Lincoln completed the scoring with a single in what was an excellent all round team performance. The youths B team lost 4-1 to Arklow Town at Whitegates on Saturday afternoon. They battled right up to the final whistle against a good Arklow side. Shea Bolt fired home the Rovers consolation goal.

Junior action kicked off on Wednesday night when our 12C's narrowly lost 1-0 to Arklow United B in a tight game. It was a good performance from the team, and they were unlucky not to get something from the game. On Thursday night our U12A's put in a solid performance to kick start their Shield campaign with an impressive win over Coolboy at Whitegates. There were impressive displays from every player with Alessio Coppola, Mickey O'Neill (2), Finn Murphy, Hank Murnane, Freddie Kavanagh and Kevin Yan all finding the back of the net. Thanks to Coolboy for the game and making the long journey on a Thursday night. The 13B's kicked off their division 1 shield campaign with a very impressive 4-3 away win over neighbours Ashford Rovers. This game was a real thriller and kept both sets of supporters on the edge of their seats right to the end. With the sides locked at 3-3 going into the final minute the Rovers of Wicklow claimed all three points when Will O'Callaghan popped up with the winning goal. It was a fantastic win for the team in a superb team performance. Will O'Callaghan scored two with Matas Araminas and Darragh Reddin nabbing one a piece. A special mention for Sean Hyland who put in a man of the match performance in goals. This match was a great advert for football, big thanks to Ashford for a competitive thrilling game. Our under 15's gave the club a treble of wins in the opening shield games Thursday night when they recorded a comfortable win over Greystones United in Woodlands. Sean Guerin stole the show with a clinical hat-trick, David Johnston, Naoise O'Dubhslaine, Jack Healy, Josh McCann, Josh McCall, Colclough Byrne, and Matthew Shevlin all hit the back of the net to get their campaign off to a winning start against a spirited Greystones United side. On Friday night the 14A's eased through to the semi-finals of the Premier cup with a 4-1 win over a good Shillelagh side. Scoreless at the break, all the goals came in the second half. A brace from Nathan Gough and singles from Wolsey Sloan Kelly and Cillian Czwalina saw them book their place in the semi-finals. On Saturday the under 11 greens drew 2-2 with Rathnew before losing on penalties. Caden O'Brien and Will McConnell scored for Rovers in an exciting Jimmy Hackett cup tie, best of luck to Rathnew in the next round. Our 12A's produced a stunning second half comeback away to Arklow United in the Premier cup, 2-0 down at the break the lads stormed back to win 7-2. A hat-trick from Kevin Yan and singles from Hank Murnane, Finn Murphy, Mikey O’Neill, and Daniel Clarke saw them book their spot in the semi-final. The 14B's exited the cup losing 4-1 away to Arklow United B. The lads put in a good performance despite losing, James Cummins nabbed the Rovers consolation goal. We would like to wish Arklow the best of luck in the semi-final. The 13A’s produced an excellent performance in the South Leinster Regional Final. On the day, the lads were the better team, but lady luck didn’t shine on them. The lads found themselves 2-0 down after twenty minutes to a much bigger Portlaoise side but from that point onwards Rovers dominated. They pulled one back with a goal from Kale Conyard just before the break. The second half saw Rovers totally dictate the play and they got their reward eleven minutes from time with a fierce strike from a Kale Conyard free kick. Rovers had chances for a winner, but it wasn’t to be, and it was on to extra time. Rovers had a spot kick saved and against the run of play Portlaoise went in front. They added a fourth before Rovers got their third from the boot of Richard Carton. Try that they did they couldn’t find an equaliser. Well done lads, a brave performance, you done yourselves and everyone proud.  The full squad is as follows: Sam Czwalina, Ryan Cox, Harry Bowen, Ben O'Leary, kale Conyard, Rhys Behan, Harry Kavanagh, Tommy Morrisey, Sam Conyard, Richard Carton, Daniel Connolly, Kuba Cielecki, Luke Connolly, Robbie McCoy, Jack Madden and Tiernan Shortall. The management team consists of Maurice Dunne, Kevin Czwalina and Lenny Carton. Well done everyone. Well done to Portlaoise and the best of luck for the remainder of the season. On Sunday the under 11 Blues went down to a very strong Roundwood team in the Jimmy Hackett cup. A bit understrength on the day the players gave it everything. The 12B’s recorded an excellent 3-1 home win over St Anthonys B to progress to the semi-final of the cup, Eoghan Quinn, Chris Delahunt and Seb Gould were the marksmen in a good team display. The 13B’s were another team who progressed to the semi-final with a good 3-0 home win over Arklow Town, Josh Murphy fired home a brace with Joseph Morrissey scoring one in a good team performance. The under 16 bowed out of the cup when they lost 2-1 at home to Shillelagh in a close encounter. The lads had chances but on the day they had to settle for a lone James Dunne strike.

Massive thanks to Dortek who kindly made a massive donation to our new sensory garden. Dortek kindly sponsored the sensory garden to the tune of €3,333. For this everyone at the club is very grateful and much appreciate their kind sponsorship. The cheque was presented to club secretary Stephen Clarke and under 13A manager and Dortek employee Maurice Dunne from Mulcaire O'Mara. Once again, a massive thanks to Mulcaire and Dortek for supporting us with a worthwhile project which will benefit the community.