Clonmel side Wilderness Rovers' FAI Cup odyssey ends with brave defeat in Cork

FAI Junior Cup (4th Round)

St Mary's (Cork) 1 Wilderness Rovers 0

Wilderness Rovers made the long trip to Cork on Saturday to represent the TSDL in the fourth round of this season’s FAI Junior Cup, and put up an excellent performance that unfortunately fell just short after a great game of football.

 The conditions were tough at the beginning of the game, with high winds and relentless rain, and the Clonmel side got off to the worst possible start, conceding a goal from the first attack of the game, when the Cork side broke from the kick off and whipped a ball in from the left that caught the visiting keeper unaware and was tapped in at the back post.

Wilderness Rovers responded fantastically though, creating chance after chance with the best opportunity falling to Graham Kelly on the half hour mark. Unfortunately, just as he was about to pull the trigger on his shot, the ball got stuck under his feet allowing the Cork defenders to scramble away to safety.

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Rovers continued to press down the right-hand side with Danny Hogan and Jayden Cagney combining very well together, but just couldn’t seem to break down a strong home defence.

The second half followed a similar pattern, with the away side dominating possession and chances, and the home side using the counter attack.

As the game progressed  the weather worsened making it almost impossible to build any fluidity into the game and Rovers just could not force  the game to extra-time.

But they can have no qualms as to the level of effort that they put in, and will now be re-doubling their efforts to ensure they remain in the top flight of local football and building hopefully for more successful days in this and other competitions.