Wicklow Cup
Arklow Town 2
Arklow United 0
Travers Insurance Park
Eoin Horkan
A large crowd gathered in Arklow at Saturday tea-time for the long awaited cup tie
between two Arklow sides . With only a
couple of 100 metres separating both sides pitches this was always going to a
tense affair .
The opening minutes of the game were played out exactly as predicted
with both sides trying to wrestle control of the tie early on . It was the home
side who eventually carved out an early effort as striker Joe Ledwith took a
long -range shot which flew over the bar.
Town’s midfield general Philly Erasmus was starting to control the game
in the middle. In the thirteenth minute
he managed to duck inside his defender and let fly from outside the box . His
effort was easily saved in the United goal.
The home side were now starting to control the ball more as they pushed
forward, they won a free on the edge of the box . Striker Ledwith stepped up to
take it . He tried to fire it into the near post, but his effort narrowly
missed the post . The home side kept piushign forward in search of the opening
goal . Aaron Kelly broke through the defence but yet again Stephen Doyle kept
it out at his ease in the united goal.
With the game heading towards the break Kelly latched onto a through
ball but his half volley inside the box blazed over the bar
It wasn’t until the forty third minute of the game when the away side got
a shot on target this came from Zach Kilbride after controlling well from a
free kick . It was a tame effort but still a shot none the less.
The town flew out of the blocks at the start of the 2nd half
with Ledwith bursting down the wing, but his goal bound effort was well kept
out my Doyle in the goal. The tie fell
into a lull for the next ten minutes , then the game nearly changed against the
run of play .
United won a free kick , the ball was controlled in the box and as Adam
Walker was about to unleash a shot he was taken down and awarded a penalty .
Mark Nolan stepped up to take the spot kick . His effort cannoned back of the
crossbar . The away side kept the pressure on after this with Matthew Dempsey
getting through one on one, but Town experienced net minder Travers smothered
his effort expertly .
With ten minutes left in the game and looking like it was going to
penalties Mark Fitzgerald swung in a teasing
cross . Philp Erasmus came in at the back post to header in the opening
goal of the game . With subs now
starting to be brought on to change the game . One of Town’s subs made an
impact but not for the right reasons .
Dan Doyle got booked for taking down an opposition player and before the
free kick was taken, he managed to get a second yellow for decent .
With Town down to 10 men this didn’t change much in the last few minutes
as they kept pushing forward. A cross
came into the box and that man Erasmus again managed to bundle the ball into
the back of the net to finish off the tie with three minutes to go.
Arklow Town: 1 Mervyn Travers 2 Mark Fitzgerald, 3 Nathan Cullen, 4
Ciaran Burke,5 Sean Crowley,6 Conor Breslin, 7 Ryan Kenny, 8 Philp Erasmus,
9 Joe Ledwith, 10 Aaron Kelly, 11 Chris Furlong
Subs Used: Jack Darcy for Chris
Furlong , Conor Harris for Joe Ledwith , Dan Doyle for Aaron Kelly.
Arklow United : 1 Stephen Doyle, 2 Conor Blaney,3 Dan Doyle,4 Mark
Nolan,5 Shane Kavanagh, 6 Stephen Kavanagh,7 Cian LT, 8 Sean Clare, 9 Adam
Walker, 10 Matthew Dempsey, 11 Zach Kilbride
Subs Used : Denny Boyle for Adam Walker , Darren Reilly for Steven
Kavanagh, Cian Mcloughlin for Shane Connolly.
Referee: David Jameson
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