Thomas Croke wore a smile as broad as the nearby River Slaney after his double earned Wexford FC a precious 2-0 win over Cabinteely on Friday night, a result which finally lifted the Ferrycarrig Park-based outfit off of the foot of the table. “Yeah
Thomas Croke wore a smile as broad as the nearby River Slaney after his double earned Wexford FC a precious 2-0 win over Cabinteely on Friday night, a result which finally lifted the Ferrycarrig Park-based outfit off of the foot of the table.
“Yeah it's great. I didn't think it would take that long to get us off the bottom of the table. We're finally there, so at least we can celebrate that now tonight,” he said.
The midfielder certainly knows where the goal is, having hit the back of the net six times already this season, making him the top scorer at the club.
“It's been a strange year. Before this year I only had one goal in League of Ireland and now that's six this year. It's great but as long as I'm helping the club that's the main thing, and if I can pitch in with a few goals I'm more than happy to do that,” he said.
Having sat out last weekend's FAI Cup defeat the 26-year-old had to undergo a late fitness test before taking his place in the side to face Cabinteely and manager Damian Locke will delighted with his return to the fold, given his match-winning contribution.
“I struggled against Athlone a couple of weeks ago with a hamstring injury so I sat out the Crumlin game last week with it. I still wasn't right this week during training but Nigel (Fitzharris, physio) did a great job with me with the ice-packs and stuff during the week. I got through 60 or 70 minutes and that was enough for me,” he said.
Croke was also fulsome in his praise for recently-signed goalkeeper Danny Bolger, who pulled off a late penalty save, as well as the defence as a whole, who held back the Cabinteely tide in the second-half.
“Danny has been great since he came in, he's been quality. His distribution was great and the penalty save as well. A lot of credit has to go to the defence. We got a clean sheet and we're not after having too many of them this season, so we're delighted with that as well. It's only one or two goals throughout the year that we've conceded in games that have cost us points, so I'm happy with the clean sheet,” he said.
Wexford FC saw two penalties saved in their cup exit to Crumlin United in their previous game so Croke was delighted to experience the other side of the coin this time around, keeping out a spot-kick themselves.
“Like I said to the lads last week when they came in 'that's football'. You can get nights like that and you can get nights this when things go well for you. So just go and celebrate the nights when it goes well,” he said
Up next for Wexford FC is a trip to face UCD, before a mouth-watering home derby against champions-elect Waterford next month and the former Blues player says the hosts will really be up for that one.
“The way it falls they'll probably have a chance of winning the league that night. We won't want them to win it here and you can guarantee we'll put a fight up against them,” he said.
