Entertaining draw in Ferrycarrig tonight as both sides tried hard to gain the advantage over the full 90 minutes. Shane Keegan deserves credit for posing an entirely different problem for Derry to solve as compared to last week's cup tie as he went 3-5-2 with Graham, Lasty, Gary and Lee, a midfield five of Craig, Shane Dempsey, Eric, Andy Mulligan and Andy O'Connor and with Spot and Roxy up front. Chances started to flow as early as the second minute when a through ball nearly found a Derry forward in the clear, but Graham Doyle cleared with much difficulty. A minute later, Spot Murphy had a free header from a Wexford free, but it went straight to Ger Doherty in the Derry goal. In the eighth minute, Youths had their best chance when Eric Molloy tested the metal of the Derry crossbar when the ball broke to him from a corner. On 17 minutes, a worrying injury for the Youths when Gary Delaney hobbled off with an ankle injury after winning the ball powerfully in the air. While Gary was off, Graham Doyle had to travel outside his box to clear a Derry attack, and the shot from the rebound was deflected somewhat luckily for a Derry corner. Jonny Bonner came on in place of Gary Delaney and Wexford seemed to move back to a more traditional 4-4-2. On the half-hour Patterson had a goal ruled out for offside. Jonny Bonner and Spot Murphy then had good efforts on the Derry goal before, with a minute to go in the half, Graham Doyle had to push away a shot on target after a good Derry move. Nil-nil at half-time and an even enough half.
Derry made Graham Doyle work a bit harder in the Youth's goal in the second period. In the first minute, Derry had a one-on-one with Graham, but it was hit into the side netting. Shane Dempsey then had a characteristic volley a yard wide before the best chance for Derry fell to McNamee close in on 58 minutes, but instead of putting it away, he kept it low and allowed Graham to block it away with a good spreading save. Jonny Bonner was then set up well by an excellent Andy O'Connor move down the left but couldn't beat Ger Doherty. Three cards were then shown to the Youths for tackles by Lasty, Spot and Shane Dempsey but two of them looked very questionable. Eoin Porter and Hopper Kenny were further late subs for the Youths with Eric Molloy forcing Doherty to tip over his own bar in the final minute as the game ended on a 0-0 scoreline.
Good performances all over the pitch from the Youths who showed that they recognise the importance of these final matches, but Graham Doyle, Lee Grace and particularly Andy O'Connor had really impressive stints. Believe there was 377 at the game so nearly double the crowd that turned up at the cup game against the same opposition last week.
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