Wexford Youths 0 - 1 Sporting Fingal

• Conor Meagher
• Sat, Jun 06 2009


It was the visitors in white who took the points at Ferrycarrig Park on Friday evening as Ross Gaynor scored a header from a Shaun Williams' corner late in the game. In the first half the Youths were somehow not given a definite penalty by some suspect refereeing, but this fixture ultimately showed up their inability to control top opposition at home recently as they have looked to climb the table. Sporting are now eight points clear in third place.

The first period was a very open game with little in the way of clear cut chances, most of which were slow in build up and worked through as the sides matched each other all over. Breen had the first effort, a header just over from a Sinnott corner on the right after 17-year-old Robert Vickers had worked his way down that side and played it out off Lorcan Fitzgerald. Conor Sinnott and Shane McFaul were orchestrating things for the home and away sides respectively, playing neat balls high and along the deck into the feet of the front men, with Shaun Williams and Liam O’Loughlin having stinging shots over and straight at the keepers.

A minute before half-time, though, and the Youths were robbed of a stonewall penalty. O’Loughlin chased down Brian Gannon as he took on what should have been a routine clearance, beat him to the ball and took on Whelan who fouled him right in the corner of the box and received a yellow for it. Referee Graeme Kelly pointed to the spot only for his assistant to flag for what he had seen as a free kick outside the box, and the ref duly changed his stance. Gavin Doyle chipped the resultant free into the wall as he looked to repeat his spectacular effort against Waterford last week.

Eleven minutes into the second half came a chance for Wexford to seek redemption as Sinnott wriggled into the box and saw the ball cleared under pressure – Patsy Malone saw yellow for dissent in the build up to the corner that followed. The next twenty minutes saw a lot of niggling play as both teams failed to get a foothold despite Williams and McFaul dictating most of the play for the away side.

A Lorcan Fitzgerald clearance from a Doyle cross with Malone lurking after 69 minutes was closely followed by O’Loughlin wasting a chance when put through by Sinnott with only the keeper to beat. The game took a terrible turn for the home side when Malone, already on a yellow and perhaps lucky to be still on the pitch after another foul on Williams, chopped down the playmaker to get his second yellow after 81 minutes.

Anto Russell then fell over the ball, allowing the ever-present Eamonn Zayed to shoot off him and then the post – the resulting Williams corner was buried by Gaynor with his head from the right just inside the six-yard box. Gaynor being booked was the only other note for the last few minutes as Wexford struggled to recover. Another game at home against top-four opponents thrown away by naivety that has yet to be trained out of the team – although special mention must be held for the ref as his indecision could only have dampened the growing confidence of the home side coming into the end of a solid first half display.

Wexford Youths: Packie Holden; Anto Russell (Shane Dempsey, 86), Johnny Flynn O’Connor, David Breen, Peter White, Liam O’Loughlin; Conor Sinnott,Patsy Malone, Robert Vickers (Richie Fitzgerald, 66); Gavin Doyle, Garry Sheahan.
Subs not used: Shane Sinnott, Martin Kehoe, Gareth McCurtain.

Sporting Fingal: Dean Quigley; Brian Gannon, John Frost, Shaun Williams, Gareth Whelan; Shane McFaul, Conan Byrne, Lorcan Fitzgerald, Ross Gaynor; Alan Kirby, Eamon Zayed.
Subs not used: Colm James, Robbie Horgan, Fiachra McArdle, Eric Foley, Anthony McCabe.

Referee: G.Kelly.

Attendance: 557.

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Shaun Williams, controlled the midfield with McFaul all night – set up the winning goal with his corner kick.