WICKLOW ROVERS AFC CLUB NOTES WEEK ENDING 8th MAY 2022

Our Leinster Senior side went out of the Lanigan Cup on Tuesday night when they lost 3-1 away to Rosemount. The home side were one up inside the first minute, but Rovers drew level with a Ciaran McGettigan strike. That's as good as it got for Rovers as Rosemount hit two unanswered goals to seal their passage to the next round. The lads will put this one down as a bad day at the office. The third team came up against champions elect Wicklow Town at Finlay Park on Tuesday night. The lads gave it everything against a very good Town side, but the Town were just too strong running out 6-1 winners. The Rovers team have shown great character all season. Mikey Merrigan nabbed the Rovers goal on the night in a spirited team display. We wish Wicklow Town the very best in their quest for the title. On Wednesday night it was the WDFL premier team who were in action as they took on Newtown United at Whitegates. The lads ran out 2-1 winners on the night, Newtown were on top in the first period and it was no surprise when they went in front on eighteen minutes. They had another couple of chances but a good save from Conor Clack and one off target kept it at 1-0 to the visitors. Rovers levelled through Jensen O'Connor Cox just before the break. The second half saw the game turn on its head with Rovers in control. The Newtown keeper pulled off three excellent saves from Jack Fox, Andrew Earls and Mikey Merrigan. With three minutes left on the clock the lads were awarded a penalty and up stepped Simon Phillips to coolly slot home to give Rovers all three points. On Friday night the premier travelled to take on Arklow Town and returned home with all three points with a fine 4-2 victory. Mikey Merrigan fired home a brace with Jensen O’Connor Cox and James Lang nabbing one a piece. Both teams involved some of their youth players in the game with all the youth players performing well. The third team won the battle of the bottom two when they defeated Ballywaltrim 5-1 at Whitegates. Two goals from Shane Lincoln and one each from Gary O’Connor, Evan Butler and Adam Cuddihy sees them leapfrog their opponents in the league table. The under 18’s had a great 5-2 away win over Arklow Town, highlight of the game was a four goal haul from Alec Richardson, Mikey Merrigan nabbed the fifth in what was a good all round team performance.

In midweek junior action our under 15's came up against league leaders Arklow Town at Whitegates on Thursday night. Arklow proved too strong coming out on top on a 4-0 score line. Try that they did Rovers couldn’t breach a stubborn Arklow defence. Rovers put in a spirited display and gave it their all against a strong Arklow team. On Saturday our under 14’s moved into the semi finals of the Jako premier cup with an excellent 4-2 away win over a good Aughrim side. Josh McCall found the back of the net on two occasions, Ronan Phelan and Sean Patrick Guerin added singles in a good all round team performance. Our under 16’s had no luck in the final of the SFAI South Leinster Region Final going down 5-1 away to Rathangan in Kildare. The lads started well and missed a couple of good chances early on, then they gave away two soft goals and it was an uphill task after that. To their credit they battled back and Evan Conyard scored a cracker to make it 2-1 going in at the break. Unfortunately, the lads never got going in the second half which saw Rathangan add three further goals. Even though overall the Kildare side deserved their victory the margin of victory flattered them. Well done to Trevor, Ray and the team, it was a great achievement to reach the final in which you did everyone proud. On Sunday the under 11 green team took the first steps into competitive football when they took on Arklow Town in the under 12 Jako division 2 cup. It proved to be a thriller with Rovers winning 3-2. Mikie O’Neill was on fire in front of goal firing home a fantastic hat-trick with every player on the team playing their part. The 13A’s recorded an excellent 7-1 away win over Arklow United in the quarter finals of the Jako premier cup. A brace a piece from Wolsey Sloan Kelly and Bruno Tejada and singles from Darragh Cullen, Cillian Czwalina and Giorgio Morgillo-Fidyk laid the foundations for this win and progression to the semi finals in what was a good all round team display. The 13B’s exited the cup at the hands of a strong Aughrim Rangers side losing 8-2. To their credit they never dropped the heads and battled right up to the final whistle. They were rewarded with a goal each from Martha Lambert and Alex Zevatski. A special mention to Darragh Reddin who made several excellent saves in the second half. The under 15’s progressed to the semi final of the Jako premier cup with a good solid 3-0 home victory over Roundwood.

The winner of our 50/50 draw for May was Gail Dunne, he scooped the cheque for €235 when his name was pulled from the drum. Unfortunately for Gail his bonus ball number 8 didn’t emerge as the bonus ball in the main lotto draw the following night. This means is our bonus ball jackpot now rises to €2,400 for the June draw. Tickets for the June draw can be purchased online at www.wicklowroversclubshop.com anytime from now till midnight on Tuesday 31st of May. The June draw will take place on Tuesday 7th of June and will be screened live on the club facebook page at 8pm. Many thanks to all who support our draw.