Wexford Youths 3 - 0 Finn Harps
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It takes over ten hours to travel from Ballybofey to Wexford and back by road. Finn Harps legendary striker Kevin McHugh made the five hundred mile round trip but spent just four minutes on the pitch at Ferrycarrig before a red card posed the question, was your journey really necessary? When his route to goal was blocked by the prone body of Wexford Youths giant stopper C.J. Browne, McHugh moved in to hook the ball free.
By the standards of a rugby loose maul it was fairly unspectacular stuff although Browne was certainly injured in the process and did not return for the second half because of the damage caused to his ribs. On the advice of his assistant, referee James McKell saw red. It was not the first card out of his pocket, however; visiting central defender Shaun McGowan receiving a booking for a rash tackle on his right flank after just one minute’s play. By the end of the game Mr McKell had issued six more and doubled the red card count.
Frustrating, yes; uneventful, no. Enigmatic even. There was Harps manager Peter Hutton all togged out in match kit apparently fit to play. But, since he was not named among the substitutes it was clear he would be remaining in the dugout. Instead, as the complement of his forces was reduced, he was forced to fortify them with three young subs who, in terms of energy alone, played their part in keeping the game alive. It took Youths over an hour to capitalise on their numerical superiority and they failed to make the game safe until the dying minutes.
Home keeper Graham Doyle, appointed captain and sporting a cap so spectacular you felt he must have played cricket for Australia was not much troubled. When Adam Clarke made a determined run into the Wexford penalty area it was a fine, crunching tackle by Jamie Carr that snuffed out the threat. In the other goal Ciaran Gallagher looked suspect but sandwiched a sharp save to push Furlong’s effort over the bar between a couple of tentative punches before going full length to his left to deal with another Furlong strike and repeating the process to keep out an even better low drive from Shane Nolan.
After the interval Youths stepped up the pressure and should have scored on several occasions. Harps almost did just three minutes after the break when a long range screamer from McMonagle flicked off Harkin's head scraped the junction of post and bar. Whether it would have gone in but for Harkins intervention is one of those imponderables that makes football interesting.
But soon Youths were back on the trail. When Gallagher dropped a cross invitingly in front of goal Tommy McBride scrambled the ball behind. Then the flight of a Shane Nolan corner from the right defeated the keeper and he was indebted to McGowan who headed behind.
Home midfielder Patsy Malone put two close range headers over the bar but when his erstwhile midfield partner Shane Dempsey arrived as a 63rd minute substitute they soon combined to send full back Phelan away down the right and his cross drew a header from Tom Elmes that spiralled into the top right corner of Gallagher’s net.
This must have been a comfort to the big Wexford striker who subsequently took the ball round the keeper but somehow managed to pass to an opponent when confronted with an empty goal. Adam Clarke had received his marching orders by then, Mr McKell’s well rehearsed hand to pocket action again being triggered by an assistant as the Harps player was perhaps a little too enthusiastic about disentangling himself from an opponent off the ball in the 67th minute.
Harps reorganised their forces for a second time and their management team generally showed commendable restraint but both Felix Healy and his partner Hutton were instantly incandescent when two Wexford attackers were allowed to proceed when both were clearly offside. It took two stubbornly defended corners before the danger from this illegal intrusion could be relieved and led to the best comic moment of the evening when the normally mild mannered Mr Healy protested to the nearby lino, “You effing swore at me!”
Officials are supposed to be above such badinage with the dugout and this one duly made use of the advantageous progress of the ball to sprint away up the line. But the best Harps could do in response was to remind the home side that the points were not yet safe with a fine long range effort from McBride sending Doyle plunging to his left to parry the ball away.
Harps were three at the back by now and tiring legs made them susceptible to infiltration. Danny Furlong, who had an impressive evening, finally made the points secure with only three minutes of the ninety remaining, running in from the right to slot the ball between Gallagher’s legs. Two minutes later Aidan Keenan waltzed through on the left to score a third goal. Game, set and match and Wexford are back up to third position. But the really impressive stats belong to referee McKell. On his last two visits to Ferrycarrig he has dispensed no fewer than four red and fourteen yellow cards. That surely puts him top of that particular league.
Wexford Youths: Graham Doyle; Mark Phelan, C.J. Browne (James Scallon 46), Jamie Carr, James Dermody; Craig Wall, Shane Nolan (Shane Dempsey 63), Patsy Malone, Aidan Keenan; Danny Furlong, Tom Elmes (Shaun Corcoran 89).
Subs not used: Shane Clarke, Thomas Croke, John Yeates, Eric Molloy.
Yellow cards: Elmes (25), Phelan (33), S Nolan (53), Malone (79).
Finn Harps: Ciaran Gallagher; Tommy Bonnar, Shaun McGowan, Tommy McMonagle, Ciaran Coll; Matt Harkin (BIain Curtis 63), Tommy McBride, Shane McGinty (Gary Merritt 74), Paul Simon Tracey (Ciaran Greene 72); Adam Clarke, Kevin McHugh.
Subs not used: Rory Kelly, James Doherty, Aaran O’Hagan, Paul McVeigh.
Yellow cards: McGowan (4), McGinty (44), Coll (84).
Red cards: McHugh (4), Clarke (67).
Referee: Mr James McKell.
Attendance: 326.
