Goodwick United 4 - Llechryd 2

 
Referee: Neill Crawshay
Assistants: Nigel Delaney & Owen Wilton
Venue: Phoenix Park
 
Goodwick United retained the John Bailey Cup in an entertaining final of this popular memorial competition as they beat Llechryd 4-2 at Phoenix Park, writes Bill Carne.
 
 The recently-founded visitors were chosen as the traditional guests from the Ceredigion League and beat Letterston 1-0 in the semi-final which was well refereed by Gareth Elliott, with the only goal scored by Jac Blackford, the son of former Goodwick stalwart Steve.
 
Goodwick played really well in their semi-final to beat old rivals Merlins Bridge 3-0 thanks to a first-half strike by Jordan Griffiths and two more after the interval from Rhys Dalling, one of them from the penalty spot, with Craig Templeton doing a good job in the middle.
 

Llechryd make the brighter start . . .

 
It was Llechryd who made the brighter start as their midfield player/coach John Curran, Jack Everton, Luke Grant and Liam Jones looked sharp in creating space and after missing one early half chance they took the early lead after Tomos Toft was brought down in the box from a clumsy tackle by Steffan Hayes and ref Crawshay, who had a good game, had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
 
Skipper Ben Davies stepped up from his duties at the back to take the penalty and calmly sent new keeper Kyle Marsh the wrong way to give the underdogs the lead – and they might have doubled it but for the fact that home captain Delaney pulled off an excellent block tackle as Cory Davies was about to fire home from six yards.
 

. . . But Goodwick grab three goals before the interval

 
But Goodwick gradually settled, with Luke Hayward, Johnny Horgan and Iestyn Evans combining well with front men Griffiths, Dalling and Nathan Greene the goals were bound to come.
 
Griffiths went close after a tricky run but his shot was blocked by Lee Evans and keeper Osian Williams – and although the home side lost Evans with a cut head it was inevitably the tricky Griffiths who levelled matters before Dalling found the net to put them in front.
 
Then Hayward scored arguably the goal of the game just before the break from a Horgan corner on the right as his glancing header flew past Williams and into the far top corner of the net at the road end.
 

Good second half ends all square

 
The second half was also played at pace, considering how early it is in their season, and Llechryd tried hard to battle back but found few chances as Llyr Tobin, Jordan Thomas and skipper Delaney gave Marsh good cover and the keeper looked confident – and Goodwick made sure of victory with a good goal by striker Greene, whose aerial power is well-known and he rose at the far post to plant a powerful header past the stranded Williams.
 
It says much for Llechryd’s resilience that they still managed to round off the scoring with a quality finish from Jac Blackford, called off the bench and finishing well to nicely round off an entertaining tussle where both teams showed their talents and provided a fitting tribute to this popular competition.
 

Brian sums up the week’s football in style

 
Brian Morris, the chairman of Goodwick United, presented the John Bailey trophy to skipper Scott Delaney and thanked everyone for their support, including referee Neill Crawshay and the other two match officials during the week, with a special mention to Llechryd for supporting the event on the pitch but also for the generous donations from all their players which helped swell the money raised to present to Haverfordwest SAC in memory of John Bailey, a classy defender at Phoenix Park who died so tragically young at the age of 26.
 
Goodwick  United: Kyle Marsh: Steffan Hayes; Scott Delaney (Capt); Jordan Thomas; Llyr Tobin; Iestyn Evans; Luke Hayward; Johnny Horgan; Rhys Dalling; Nathan Greene; Jordan Griffiths. Subs: Scott Crawford; Jac Pepper; Kieran O’Brien.
 
Llechryd: Osian Williams; Alun Gott; Ben Davies (Capt); Lee Evans; Josh Grota: Luke Grant; Jack Everton; John Curran; Liam James; Cory Davies, Tomos Toft. Subs: Jac Blackford, Tristan Noble; George Hicks.