Gorey Rangers are through to the FAI Junior Cup final

Wexford football side, Gorey Rangers, are through to the FAI Junior Cup final…

The Gorey town side pulled off a shock this afternoon in Bunclody as they defeated Villa FC of Waterford. Although the Wexford side entered the game as clear underdogs in the bookmakers eyes, priced at 9/2, they did not look like a team that would be beaten easily.

In fact, for large portions of the game, Gorey Rangers dominated proceedings. Both teams had their chances in the first-half. Gorey winger Adam Territ was unlucky on two occasions, while Villa’s left-back, John Tamen, missed a clear cut opportunity too, blazing his shot over the Rangers crossbar.

The Villa FC team. Pic via Wexford Football League

Rangers suffered a blow when their towering centre-back Sean Murphy was forced off by injury early into the second-half, but a change in formation meant that substitute Mark Woods was able to have an impact on the game from the left side of midfield.

The two evenly-matched sides could not be separated at full-time, drawing 0-0.

30 minutes of extra time was to be played then. Villa FC thought they had won it when they scored a goal courtesy of substitute Alex Phelan with less than five minutes to go in the second-half of extra time.

But Gorey Rangers could not have asked for a better response. Straight from the restart, they pushed up on the Villa FC side who were only back from celebrating. Villa’s celebrations were short-lived, as Alex Conway unfortunately scored an own goal after some excellent pressure from the Wexford side.

With just a few minutes remaining, very few chances appeared for either side and it meant that, once again, penalties would be the deciding factor.

In Gorey’s previous game, in the FAI Junior Cup quarter-final, they needed heroics from goalkeeper Cian Browne to help them secure the victory.

Villa FC were up first in the penalty shoot-out, but Browne pulled off an excellent save to a ball going into the bottom corner to put Villa on the backfoot straight away. Gavin O’Brien stepped up to take Gorey’s first penalty and slotted it away nicely. Villa FC’s striker, Dean Walsh, then missed their second penalty – and Rangers could feel a place in the All-Ireland final was there for the taking. Further Gorey Rangers penalties came from their dominant centre-back, Ryan Cullen, and from substitute Mark Woods. Another substitute, attacker Mick Molloy then sent the keeper the wrong way to seal the deal for the Gorey side.

Gorey Rangers will now look forward to an All-Ireland FAI Junior Cup final. They will take on Cockhill Celtic, who will go into the game as strong favourites. Cockhill Celtic, a strong Donegal outfit, defeated Pike Rovers 1-0 in the other semi-final today.

It will be Gorey Rangers’ first time in the FAI Junior Cup final. Being there, they have already made history. But the Gorey club will want to make more history than just being there, with an All-Ireland title now completely in their grasp and just 90 minutes of football away.

In my view, the Man of the Match was Ryan Cullen, followed closely by a stellar performance from the ever-consistent Conor Casserly.