Athlone Town (Leinster Senior Cup)

A rain-soaked gale blowing straight across the pitch for the full 90 minutes ruined this game as a spectacle. The match was then decided by some bad defensive errors by the Youths which gifted the result to the away side. With Graham Doyle injured, the Youths started with Brandon in goal, a back-four of Craig Short, CJ, Kilian and Jimmy, a midfield of Ricky, Shane, Deano and Peter Higgins and with Rocks and Danny up front. First ten was uneventful with both sides trying to deal with the wind. Then a simple through ball was miscontrolled by a Youths defender to leave a simple finish for Sean Brennan past Brandon for 1-0. Five minutes later, two Wexford defenders got in each other's way when trying to clear the ball, and Derek Russell hit a curling effort past Brandon for 2-0. With twenty minutes gone, a long free by the Youths into Athlone's box was met by Danny Furlong about fifteen yards out, and his looping header looped all the way into the top left hand corner for 2-1. With a half-hour gone, CJ picked up a yellow for a tackle. With a few minutes to go in the half, a good Athlone move resulted in a Town attacker lifting the ball over the bar when well-placed. Danny Furlong then had two good efforts to finish the half, the first when clean through he dinked the ball over the Town keeper but it went a foot wide. A minute later, he had another curling effort which the Athlone keeper had to strectch to push away for a corner. 2-1 to the Town at half-time.

The early chances of the second half were also caused by Wexford mistakes. After five, the Youths defence gave the ball away in their own half, and Brandon was able to push the Athlone effort away for a corner. However, five later, a long cross into the box moved so much in the air that Brandon couldn't deal with it, and it fell to the feet of an incoming Town attacker who had the easiest of finishes for 3-1. Then, on the quarter hour, the Youths defence lost the ball just outside the box with Brandon having gone out of position, and it left the Town attacker the chance of chipping it into the unguarded net for 4-1. Game died after that, with Nathan West and Danny Fitzpatrick coming on for Craig and Deano with about 25 minutes to go and Jason McHugh for Peter Higgins with a few minutes remaining.

Best for Wexford were Danny Furlong, whose intelligent running posed the only threat up front, while Rocks and Shane Nolan worked hard and CJ was his usual no-nonsense defender at the back. Newcomer Craig Short also looked useful for his spell at right-back. In general, Athlone used the ball far better while Wexford had a tendency to over-carry and to be too ambitious in their passing on a very windy night. 4-1 to Athlone on the night. Athlone's number six was carried off with about ten to go when he seemed to do a knee when attempting to meet a cross so I hope he's ok. About 70 in attendance.