Sporting Fingal 2 - 0 Wexford Youths
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Two late goals in either half were enough to earn Sporting Fingal their first three points of the season after a well deserved two-nil win over Wexford Youths at Morton Stadium.
Alan Kirby was the architect for both goals as the ex St Patrick's Athletic midfielder showed the Fingal fans just a glimpse of the talent that he has at his disposal. Kirby tormented Wexford all night and was instrumental in setting up both the goal's for Eamon Zayed and Conan Byrne.
The first ten minutes were a scrappy affair as both midfields were battling for dominance. Sporting’s pairing of Alan Kirby and Shane McFaul began to slowly take control of the match but the hosts were unable to turn their possession into any real genuine goal scoring chances.
The first bit of good passing came in the 7th minute when Zayed laid the ball of to Kirby who then found Conan Byrne on the left wing. The winger then delivered a teasing in-swinging cross that just missed the head of Robbie Doyle at the back post.
Conor Sinnott picked up the first booking of the game on twelve minutes after a high tackle on Philip Byrne. Despite Wexford’s defensive resilience, they were unable to trouble the Sporting defence when they had the ball going forwards their front two pairing of Mullen and Kelly received little service all night.
Kirby was starting to become more influential as the first-half developed and it was no surprise that he had the first shot on target after 17 minutes. On 21 minutes Fingal midfielder Shane McFaul suffered a bad tackle from Patsy Malone and had to be stretchered off with a badly injured ankle. Robert Bayly came in to deputise.
Wexford's first sight of goal fell to Peter White on 30 minutes when he found space between John Frost and Shaun Williams but the striker dragged his shot wide. Sporting nearly made Wexford pay soon after when Conan Byrne’s expertly delivered corner flashed across the six-yard box. Wexford captain Anthony Russell did very well to clear the ball facing his own goal.
Sporting though didn’t have to wait much longer to break the deadlock. Kirby capitalised on some poor Wexford passing in the middle as he picked up a stray pass. The midfielder then went on a mazy run skipping past two challenges before playing a delicate through ball to Zayed. The ex Drogheda man coolly slotted the ball past Holden into the bottom left hand corner of the net for his first goal of the season.
The second half started in bizarre circumstances with an early booking for Sporting winger Conan Byrne for a quickly taken free kick that puzzled players and fans alike. Wexford started the half well and were inches away from equalising after David Breen’s deep cross from the right was inches away from connecting with the head of Mullen
Mick Wallace made three changes as his side searched for an equaliser. The move nearly paid off when two of the substitutes combined on 75 minutes. Fitzgerald broke down the right wing and sent in a deep cross that found Dempsey on the edge of the box. Unfortunately for the visitors his effort was unable to test Quigley in the Sporting goal.
Liam Buckley’s men made sure of the points on 88 minutes when a terrific pass from Shaun Williams found Alan Kirby free on the left wing. His cross deflected but found its way to the Conan Byrne on the edge of the box. The winger made no mistake and rifled his shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Mick Wallace is still searching for his first points this season but isn’t to disappointed with tonight’s result. “We weren’t outplayed or anything I thought we had a good share of the game. We played well but Fingal are a good side. We played the top three now and I thought they were the best of them.”
Liam Buckley said “I thought we played far better than we did last week. It’s nice to get our first win and hopefully we can start from here”.
Sporting Fingal: Darren Quigley; Colm James, Philip Byrne, Shaun Maher, John Frost; Conan Byrne, Shaun Williams, Shane McFaul (Robert Bayly ), Alan Kirby, Eamon Zayed; Robbie Doyle.
Subs Not Used: James Hussey (gk), Brian Gannon, Ross Gaynor, Fiachra McArdle.
Wexford Youths: PackieHolden; Peter White, Anto Russell, David Breen, Jonny Flynn O’Connor; Keith Kearney (Richie Fitzgerald ), Patsy Malone, Conor Sinnott, Tim McGrath; Martin Kelly (Liam O’Loughlin ), Michael Mullen (Shane Dempsey ).
Subs Not Used: David Miller, Garett McCurtain.
Referee: Phil Caschera
Attendance: 542
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Alan Kirby (Sportig Fingal).
