Wexford CBS 3 Holy Rosary College, Mountbellew 2
Rory Gilbert was the hero for Wexford CBS at the AUL Complex on Wednesday afternoon as his stoppage-time goal propelled the 10-man Slaneysiders towards a dramatic triumph over Holy Rosary College, Mountbellew in the FAI Schools Dr Tony O’Neill National Cup final.
Originally set to take at Home Farm FC in Whitehall, this decider was ultimately moved to the Clonshaugh venue due to an unplayable pitch. The all-weather surface in AUL ensured this game was able to go ahead and it was a dream start to the action for Wexford.
A two-goal hero in their Leinster final success over Coláiste na hInse, Bettystown, it took Sam Norval just under two minutes to shake the net. The Waterford FC prospect hammered home from the edge the box after Darby Purcell had knocked the ball down into his path.
The Holy Rosary defence were struggling to contain Norval and the dynamic Wexford attacker subsequently outmuscled the opposition rearguard to fire home his second goal on 25 minutes. While it looked like Wexford might be set for a convincing win at this point, their Galway counterparts came roaring back into contention as the half progressed.
Having had a close-range effort from Ronan Murphy ruled out for offside, Holy Rosary eventually reduced their deficit in the 33rd minute. Although it was difficult to ascertain if Ciarán Mulhern got a touch to Conor French’s free-kick from inside his own half, his presence ensured the ball made its way to the net.
Despite having a 2-1 interval lead at their disposal, Wexford suffered a double blow on the resumption. Following a foul on Murphy 30 yards from goal, goalkeeper and captain Shay O’Leary was issued with a straight red card on 59 minutes.
At the end of a lengthy delay to allow Cormac Mythen to take over between the Wexford sticks, Holy Rosary attacker Ryan Nolan superbly curled the resulting free-kick to the back of the net.
This handed the momentum to the Mountbellew side, but Wexford coped admirably with their numerical disadvantage.
Gilbert added an extra dimension in the final third upon his introduction and turned sharply on 93 minutes to drill a low shot into the bottom left-hand corner of Rory Walsh’s goal. It looked like extra-time was going to be needed when French fired past Mythen moments later, but Wexford were able to rejoice after it was disallowed for a foul on a Wexford defender.
WEXFORD CBS: O’Leary; Stafford (Gilbert, 75 mins), English, Brohan, Dempsey; Mackey, Byrne Maloney (Harpur, 97 mins); Harnett, Norval, Farrell (Mythen, 62 mins); Purcell.
HOLY ROSARY COLLEGE: Walsh; Byron (Lennon, 86 mins), French, Miskell, Fahy; Nolan, Proulx; Kantauskas, Nolan, Murphy; Mulhern.
Referee: N McLoughlin.
