Result from this evening: Wexford 4, Kerry 1. All four Wexford's goals came from Mia Whelan. Definitely a name to watch out for - Mia looks a real prospect!
Result from this evening: Wexford 4, Kerry 1. All four Wexford's goals came from Mia Whelan. Definitely a name to watch out for - Mia looks a real prospect!
Result from this evening: Wexford 4, Peamount 1. Two further goals for Mia Whelan and major assists for both of the other two goals.
Result from today: Wexford 3, Sligo Rovers 1 in Shield Quarter-Final. Comfortable enough for Wexford although Sligo did get it back to 2-1 with a couple of minutes to go. Players who impressed were Mia Whelan (who got a brace), Izzy Finney, Mya Steele and Molly Kirwan who had an accomplished spell during the short time she was on.
Don't know if Jack or any of the coaching staff read this. But going into the semi-final, one issue he must tackle is the pace of the through-balls being played by the team in their quarter-final on Saturday. The game was played in a reasonable breeze but nothing too outlandish. Wexford had the benefit of the breeze in the first half and they have an ace predator in Mia Whelan looking to run off the last defender's shoulder. However, ball after ball was hit way too hard and they usually just rolled straight into the hands of the Sligo keeper. Those through-balls need to be dying on Wexford's side of the 18 yard box so you give both your attacker a chance, draw the opposing keeper beyond the 18 yard box and, as my old coach used to say, giving you the perfect opportunity to send the fxxxxr into the next parish. This was aptly demonstrated by Mia's first goal which came from a kick-out by Wexford's Eve Fitzpatrick which bounced about the halfway, bounced over the Sligo defender's head on a windy day and, hey presto, the perfect length of through-ball for Mia to run on to and then finish.
Good crowd at an intriguing-looking final as local rivals, Waterford and Wexford, faced each other in the U17 Shield final at the SETU Arena in Waterford. And although the final result was weighted very decisively in favour of the away side, it didn’t go near to reflecting how close the game actually was in reality. Wexford started with Eve Fitzpatrick, Izzy Finney, Keelie Doyle, Ebony Harris-Burke, Emma Fitzpatrick, Mia Branagan, Niamh White, Molly Kirwan, Mya Steele, Lucy Moloney and Mia Whelan. Wexford started with the aid of both the breeze and the hill and began with a good deal of momentum. It paid dividends as, after only two minutes, Mia Whelan was fed the ball down the left channel, beat the covering Waterford defender for pace, and finished with her left into the far corner for a composed piece of finishing by the fourteen-year old. About the quarter hour mark, Waterford had their first real chance but a heavy touch allowed a very solid Fitzpatrick in the Wexford goal to gather cleanly. On the half hour, it was 2-0 as Mia Branagan got her head to a Wexford corner, with Wexford’s set-pieces posing a threat throughout the game. On 37 minutes, Mia Whelan scored her second of the day as she was fed the ball again in space and finished coolly past the Waterford keeper for 3-0. After Wexford had another effort just cleared off the Waterford goal-line, Mia Whelan secured her hat-trick with a delightful lift over the advancing Waterford keeper and it was 4-0 to Wexford at halftime.
Waterford had two chances early on in the second half as a rebound from the Wexford crossbar was lifted over from close in and then Eve Fitzpatrick gathered again after another heavy touch by a Waterford attacker in a one-on-one with the Wexford keeper. On twelve minutes, Fitzpatrick was called into action again when she pushed a Waterford shot onto the crossbar and managed to grab the rebound. On 19 minutes, a magic turn by Whelan left her Waterford marker for dead and Mia claimed her fourth goal of the day to make it 5-0. Wexford introduced a lot of subs during the course of the second half with Hannah Kerfah and Jorja Hennell impressing, in particular, for Wexford as they continued to operate the stranglehold on the game held by the Wexford defence. It was 6-0 to Wexford about twenty minutes in when Ciara Redmond also finished coolly past the Waterford keeper. Eve Fitzpatrick then did well to push a Waterford effort around her post for a corner as she ensured that Wexford finished the game with a clean sheet. So, 6-0 to Wexford at the end but the game was a good bit closer than the scoreline suggests. With her four goals in an hour before being subbed and still about three years younger than some of the other players on the pitch, it was an easy decision to award Mia Whelan the player of the match award, and you left the ground wondering whether you are possibly at the dawn of the appearance of a once-in-a-generation talent. 6-0 to Wexford at full-time.
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