Wexford Youths 1 - 3 Salthill Devon

• Brian de Salvo
• Sat, May 14 2011


“Hey-hey-hey! Which of you is marking him? Sort it!”

The Paul McGee new Salthill Devon roadshow has hit Wexford and the Man Himself is in full cry. It’s referee Dave McKeon’s second match back after a lengthy absence too, with an Achilles injury. In both he has taken charge of Devon but after the postage stamp pitch in Drom the wider breezy expanse of Ferrycarrig Park will present more of a challenge. And, as you may have already gathered, this is more event than football match with some of the more interesting action taking place in front of the dugouts.

“Hey-hey-hey! Con-cen-trate, ye!”

Mr McGee rounds on his dugout.

“Why didn’t he take him on, Quirkie?” he demands, as the wonderfully named Cyprian Spraut, having penetrated the home defence, checks back as a last ditch defender appears.

The response from coach Mike Quirke from the recesses of the dugout is inaudible. Indeed there is no answer. You’d have to ask the player. There are occasions when it seems that the exuberant Mr McGee might invade the playing arena on just such a quest. The fourth official looks nervous.

On the pitch not a lot is happening. Devon’s left sided midfielder, the black French player Etan Nkololo has pace and good close control skills. But he oversteps the mark when, after he is fouled by Keogh just outside the box, he seizes the ball from the nominated dead ball expert Cian McBrien and proceeds to over hit the free kick harmlessly over the bar. His manager is not impressed.

“Is he having a joke or what? Cian!!”

The Frenchman takes no more free kicks but he does produce the only decent shot of the first period which forces Wexford keeper Holden to get down quickly to divert the ball at his near post. Holden, in a pink outfit that wouldn’t have been allowed out of the dressing room in my day, misses the resulting corner. And the next. And gets away with it.

Then, just as the two minutes added to the first half is petering out, Youths score an unlikely goal. The home sides few shots on goal have been tentative and Ryan’s late effort is out of the same stable. But as it trundles towards the Salthill keeper it is deflected by his skipper James Whelan and limps past the helpless Forde into the net.

Paul McGee wreaks vengeance on a chair that has crept into the dugout area and engages in a lengthy conversation with Quirke as they trudge towards the dressing rooms.

Changes at the interval but not amongst the combatants. Mr McGee has retreated into the dugout and sent Mr Quirke out to prowl. He is animated enough but lacks the volcanic quality of his boss. Youth’s manager Noel O’Connor gets into the act, sending two substitutes to the touch line and then changing his mind when they are about to enter the fray.

“I decide when they’re going on, not you!” insists Mr O’Connor. Meanwhile Salthill have produced a shaven headed lookalike of the manager and the “now you see me now you don’t” choreography between the three coaches does nothing to make the fourth official’s life easier.

Back on the pitch Holden has failed to deal with a third corner kick and this time Paddy Quinlan hooks the loose ball past him for a Salthill equaliser. You begin to think the visitors just might be in line for their first win of the season when a corner from the Wexford right strikes the unmarked Kehoe right in front of goal and bounces harmlessly wide. Substitute Walshe has got on by now and make an initial impact, making Forde look sharp to block his close range effort with his feet. And when the second sub, Rowe, misses at close range after Malone’s low cross from the right, you begin to think it’s not going to be Wexford’s day. But Whelan fares little better at the other end when his effort strikes the crossbar and flies over.

There’s effort enough, to be sure, and Youths win the yellow card count by five to two. O’Leidhinn’s first half block on Ryan was a cynical professional foul but Malone’s attempt to take Collins off at the shin is the kind of tackle no professional likes to see. Collins hobbles away and ultimately off but not before he has had the last laugh by putting Salthill ahead with a quarter of an hour of attrition remaining. As so often happens, the side searching for an equaliser concedes again. Spraut, clear on the right, cuts in for goal, Holden slips as he advances to narrow the angle, and the big Devon striker slips the ball home. Seconds later Mr McKeon blows the final whistle. “Hey-hey-hey!” celebrates Mr McGee. The referee is all smiles too. It surely can’t be Salthill Devon again next week. Can it?

Wexford Youths: Packie Holden; Gareth McCurtin (Anthony Wolfe 72), Karl Keogh, Martin Kehoe, Dean Broaders; Shane Nolan (Kevin Rowe 68), Patsy Malone, Craig Wall, Ben Ryan; Danny Furlong, Dave Grincell (Darragh Walshe 58).
Booked: Keogh 20, Furlong 43, Ryan 58, Malone 71, Kehoe 85.
Subs not used: Muzzy Mullen, Greg Yelverton, Eoin Kinsella, Robert Dempsey

Salthill Devon: Ronan Forde; Patrick Quinlan (Daniel Rupa 78), Cian Fadden, James Whelan, Gearoid O’Leidhlinn; Cian McBrien, Eugene Creaney, Shane Browne, Etanda Nkololo; Ciprian Sprout, Victor Collins (Gerry Dolan 81).
Booked: O’Leidhlinn 43, Creaney 76.
Subs not used: Timmy Molloy, Bernard Power.

Referee: Dave McKeon

Attendance (est): 150