WICKLOW ROVERS AFC CLUB NOTES WEEK ENDING 7th NOVEMBER 2021

Our Leinster Senior team had a bad day at the office on Saturday when they travelled to take on Leixlip United and suffered a 5-0 defeat. Rovers never reached the level we have come to expect from them. They went down 1-0 after two minutes and it just went downhill from there. In truth things could have been different if what looked like a perfectly good goal hadn’t have been ruled out for offside. The home side capitalised on Rovers errors on the day and ran out comfortable winners. The lads will just have to put it down as a bad day at the office, rectify it on the training ground and hopefully return to winning ways next week.

The WDFL Premier team recorded a very impressive 5-1 victory over reigning champions St Peters in their own backyard on Friday night. Rovers were quick out of the traps and went one up early in play when Luca Rampersaud was quickest to react to a mistake in the Peters defence to fire Rovers in front. Rovers doubled their lead when Luca Rampersaud put James Lang through and he made no mistake as he powered home Rovers second. Peters kept the pressure on but couldn't beat Ian Murphy who was in inspired form between the Rovers posts. In the second half Rovers put the pressure on and a long range powerful shot by Rampersaud wasn't held by the home keeper and Jamie Power was on hand to finish to make it 3-0. Jamie Noble made it four from a corner stretching to poke the ball home. Lang reciprocated by putting Rampersaud through to find the top corner from 12 yards. Peters had some bad injuries but kept playing and competing to the last whistle and were rewarded with a late consolation goal. This was a strong all round performance from the team with Ian Murphy earning the man of the match accolade for an outstanding display between the posts. The third team took on Newtown United at the Newtown Community Grounds on Sunday morning, but things didn’t go well as they went down to an 8-2 defeat. To the team’s credit they kept going right up to the final whistle and got two consolation goals from Shane Lincoln and Gavin Caffrey.

The under 18 girls played out a 2-2 draw with Balbriggan at Whitegates on Sunday morning, Sofia Munoz put Rovers in front, but the Dublin side came roaring back with two goals to lead 2-1 at the break. Rovers suffered a couple of injuries but didn’t let that get them down as they battled back to level matters with leading scorer Molly Sweeney’s twenty fourth goal of the campaign. The girls pushed forward in search of a winner but in the end had to settle for a share of the spoils. This was another impressive all round display from the girls.

On the junior front the 14A’s defeated Coolboy Rangers on Friday night, Arthur Curran hit the back of the rigging three times for an excellent hat-trick with Steven Kavanagh making it four goals in his last five games with a well taken single. On Saturday the under 12 whites had a good 5-2 away victory over Greystones United. Bruno Tejada fired home a fantastic hat-trick for his second hat-trick in successive games to make it ten goals in four games. Martha Lambert followed up her hat-trick last week with a brace of goals to complete the five goal haul in a good all round team display. Our under 13’s made the journey to Kildare for a second round game in the SFAI cup against Coil Dubh. Unfortunately, the lads came up against a strong Coil Dubh outfit losing the game 6-1. Josh McCall brought his tally for the season to thirteen with the Rovers consolation goal. The 14B’s were involved in a thrilling local derby with neighbours Wicklow Town at Finlay Park. After an entertaining game the match finished 2-2 and on the balance of play probably a fair outcome. James Dunne found the net for the second week running with Michael Puig Lynch nabbing his first of the season in a good team performance. Well done to both teams on producing an entertaining game of football. On Sunday the under 15’s progressed to the quarter finals of the South Leinster section of the SFAI cup with an excellent 4-1 home win over Mountmellick United, it sets them up with another home tie against the winners of Newbridge B or Naas AFC. Rovers produced a very impressive display to see off Mountmellick, it was nip and tuck in the first half but then the lads went into overdrive and pulled away. Charlie Czwalina led the way with a clinical hat-trick to bring his season tally to fifteen and a fourth of the campaign from Daniel Kavanagh put the game beyond their opponents in what was an excellent all round team performance.

Congratulations to Johnny Lewins who was the winner of our November 50/50 draw scooping up a cheque for €272.50, unluckily for Johnny he failed to add the bonus ball jackpot of €1,700 to top up his winnings as his bonus ball 3 didn’t bring him joy in Wednesday night’s main lotto draw with the number 22 been the all important bonus ball. It means our bonus ball jackpot now increases to €1,800 for the December draw. Tickets are on sale for our 50/50 draw on a continuous basis, every draw will be streamed live on the club Facebook page. The draw has guaranteed monthly winner, who will also have the chance to win a Jackpot prize by predicting the Bonus Ball Number in the main Irish Lottery draw that will take place the day after the winner is announced. The cost of a ticket is only €5, you can also subscribe to a monthly payment option, so that you won’t forgot to enter into the draw each month!!. The Jackpot prize is €1,800 for our December draw and will go up by a minimum of €100 per month if not won. Tickets will be available to purchase online via our club shop website www.wicklowroversclubshop.com on an ongoing basis, you can also purchase your tickets by contacting any committee member or any club member.