Victor Ozhianvuna opens his Hoops account as Stephen Bradley summons cavalry to see off Wexford

Irish Independent

18-07-2025

This second-round tie against Stephen Elliott's men was the first home game in the competition in four seasons for Rovers but a match which seemed to be wrapped up early, when teenager Victor Ozhianvuna put them ahead as early as the seventh minute with his first senior goal for the club, turned out to be more tricky than expected.
The win was only sealed with later goals from subs Graham Burke, Rory Gaffney and Danny Mandroiu as Rovers picked apart a Wexford side who had looked solid for 70 minutes.
Some impressive work from Wexford goalkeeper Paul Martin had restricted the Premier Division league leaders to that single goal, from the teenager, and while Wexford never came close to scoring in front of a crowd of 2,420, those strikes, all in the last 14 minutes will leave a bruise on the visiting camp.
Aware that this was about as tough a test as possible in the FAI Cup, away to the top-flight leaders, Wexford's game-plan would have been simple: to keep things tight for as long as possible and try to force the Hoops into making errors.
So they could have done without handing Rovers such a soft goal to open their account. The game was only eight minutes old when Darragh Nugent found space down the right and crossed for Ozhiavnuna who displayed composure beyond his years to volley home, a superb finish from the 17-year-old.
Wexford boss Elliott demands that his side play an attacking game and, to their credit, they stuck to their principles when possible given the stature of their opponents.
Impressive teenager Kaylem Harnett did well to evade his marker and cross into the box on 17 minutes but Roberto Lopes got there before a Wexford player could and cleared the danger, while former Hoops man Aji Oluwabiyi also caused some nervous moments for the Rovers defence.
Rovers responded by seeking the second goal which would have killed off the tie, John McGovern heading wide on 26 minutes from a cross by Ozhianvuna while a minute later Michael Noonan made it too easy for 'keeper Martin to make the save from a shot.
Martin did well to block a goal-bound effort from Jack Byrne on 39 minutes while a Harnett effort for Wexford just before half-time was not enough to worry Ed McGinty in the Rovers goal.
Wexford looked comfortable when in possession but without coming up with moments to cause McGinty bother, though the home side's defence remained on constant alert for the dangerous Oluwabiyi.
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Rovers found Martin in top form, the Wexford 'keeper saving well from Noonan two minutes after the restart after good work by McGovern; then it was McGovern's turn to test Martin.
He was there again on 70 minutes, somehow keeping out a powerful header from Rory Gaffney, one of five subs called into action by Stephen Bradley at the same time, possibly the first time in league history here that a manager brought on five subs at the same time.
And they did their work as Wexford tired. Nugent claimed another assist on 76 minutes to give Burke a simple tap-in, on 83 minutes a Dylan Watts corner came to Gaffney via Lee Grace for a point-blank finish.
Then Mandroiu made it 4-0 in the 89th minute, Gaffney the provider as Mandroiu beat Martin with a classy strike as Rovers turn their focus to a European date in Gibraltar next week.
Shamrock Rovers: McGinty; Lopes, Grace, C O'Sullian; Honohan (Watts 63), Nugent, O'Neill (Mandroiu 63), Ozhianvuna; Byrne (Healy 63), McGovern (Gaffney 63); Noonan (Burke 63).
Wexford: Martin; McCarthy, Larkin, McCourt, Crawford (Browne 86); McCormack, Harnett (Haris 63), O'Brien (Levingston 83); Rowe, Dobbs (Wasileski 77), Oluwabiyi (Flynn 77).