WICKLOW ROVERS AFC CLUB NOTES WEEK ENDING 2nd JULY 2023
On Tuesday night our 12A's and 12B's were in action, the 12A’s defeated St Anthonys 4-2 in an exciting encounter. Rovers were in fine form and raced into a 4-0 lead before St Anthonys pulled two goals back late on. Mikey O’Neill fired home two with Hank Murnane and Alessio Coppola hitting the net with a goal apiece in a good team display. The 12B's are in excellent form of late as they made it three wins on the bounce with a narrow 1-0 victory over Glencormac United. It looked for a long time that this game was going to end scoreless with defences on top throughout, but Eoghan Daye popped up with a winner late in the match. Matthew Gough in goals and central defender James Carroll impressed in a good team performance. On Wednesday night our 13B's were involved in an extraordinary game with St Anthonys. They found themselves 3-0 down at the half time break but in the second half they came roaring back to go 4-3 ahead. St Anthonys levelled at 4-4 within a minute and a half. Rovers then nabbed two goals to go 6-4 up and going into added time the points looked secure, but St Anthonys had other ideas scoring two goals to level at 6-6. A fantastic, exciting game that had everything. Rovers goal scorers on the night were Will O'Callaghan 2, Josh Murphy 2, Arthur Thompson 1, and Aiden Kelly 1. On Thursday night the 13A’s defeated Arklow United 3-2 in the shield, this was another good tight contest between these two sides. Kuba Cielecki, Sam Conyard and Ryan Cox fired home the Rovers goals. In what was a good team performance Luke Connolly was superb in goals for Rovers. On Saturday the 12C's were in a tight tussle with St Anthonys. It was a game which saw defences on top for much of the match. Unfortunately for Rovers St Anthonys scored what proved to be the only goal of the game. Well done to both teams. The 14B's came up against a very strong Newtown Juniors team, Newtown ran out comfortable winners on the day but to Rovers credit they battled right to the end. They were rewarded with two goals from Cian Lynch and Max Tkac-Sado. Rovers best players on the day were Cian Lynch, Max Hennessy, Turlough Byrne, Charlie Daly O'Neill and Semen Vovk. Big thanks to Newtown for the game. On Sunday the 14A’s kept their place in top spot in the league with a very tough 2-1 away win over Shillelagh. Rovers battled well against a good Shillelagh side, and it took a double salvo from Rhys Behan to bring his tally to six for the season to claim all three points. It was a good team performance and a big thanks to Shillelagh for a competitive game. The 14B’s went down 4-3 away to Enniskerry in the development league, it was a thrilling encounter that could have gone either way. Will O’Callaghan nabbed a brace to bring his total to twenty-five in all competitions with Dougie Bowie firing home his sixth of the season.
Our annual summer camps are open for bookings. Week 1 will run from Monday 17th July to Thursday 20th July; Week 2 runs from Monday 24th July to Thursday 27th July. The camp will run from 10am to 2pm daily and the cost is €75 per child with discount for 2 or more children from the same family. Every participant will receive a jersey. All children should bring a packed lunch, drink, rain jacket, football boots and shin guards. To book your place use the following link: https://wicklowroversafc.com/categories/camp/products or alternatively you can contact any committee member.
A big thanks to all the kids and their parents who represented the club at the Pride Festival Parade last Saturday. It was great to see so many turnout to support the event. Well done everyone.
The club in conjunction with our Saturday morning junior academy run a Superheroes Football section for kids with special needs. It runs every Saturday on the astro pitch at Whitegates and will be overseen by coaches James Quinn and James Macklin. The Superheroes section will run from 11.15 to 12.15 on Saturdays. If you are interested, you should register your child by email to wicklowroverssuperheros@gmail.com or you can contact James Quinn at 086-3989769.
The club’s weekly junior football academy continues every Saturday morning [weather permitting] under the watchful eye of senior club coaches Johnny Dunne and Jimmy Nolan. The academy takes place on the club grounds at Whitegates and is open to all kids from the age of 3 years to 8 years. The academy starts at 11 o’clock and finishes at 12. There is no need for registration so you can come along to any week that suits. Come along and learn the skills of football while having fun and enjoyment, it’s a great way of meeting new friends as you learn the skills as you get prepared for the introduction to participate in organised league football in the coming years. It is a very good way for the kids to meet new friends and interact with others, all the kids are put in their relevant age groups and its open to boys and girls. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Anyone with anything for our club notes, Facebook page or our club website can contact me by email at jimmy.nolan09@hotmail.com or by text to 087-9108706. For all news regarding the club, check out our club website at www.wicklowroversafc.com or the club Facebook page.
