Way too close for comfort
IT WAS too close for comfort in Innovate Wexford Park on April 11, 2015, when the Wexford Minor hurlers hit a brace of last-gasp points to finally shake off the strong Laois challenge by 2-13 to 0-17 in this Electric Ireland Leinster championship first round encounter.
In actual fact, the home side didn’t lead at any stage until with 47 seconds left in normal time when Ian Carty caught an opposition puck-out and lofted it between the posts for his third point of the second-half.
That pushed Wexford into a 2-12 to 0-17 lead, and Ciarán O’Connor converted a free after an overcarrying call against a Laois defender for the insurance point.
The home side knew they were in for one hell of a contest from early on in this clash as they were hit with a whirlwind of scores as the midlanders utilised first-half wind advantage to the full.
Both wing-backs and a corner-back were among the Laois marksmen from play, and some of their finishing was very impressive.
Luckily for Wexford, the opportunism of Stephen O’Gorman kept them in touch as he goaled twice against the run of play when they were being outsmarted in most areas of the field.
It made the half-time deficit of 0-16 to 2-4 somewhat more manageable, and thankfully the opposition – who were prepared by former All Star midfielder Pat Critchley – could only add a solitary point to their tally after the break.
Two quickfire efforts from Ian Carty, created by handpasses by Joe O’Connor and goalscorer O’Gorman, brought the sides level in the 45th minute (2-10 to 0-16).
If anyone expected Wexford to push on with a degree of comfort they were in for a rude awakening as Mark Kavanagh restored the Laois lead with that sole point after the break.
Just three more scores were recorded in the 14 minutes that remained, and thankfully all of them came from the hosts, courtesy of Dwyer, Carty and O’Connor.
Wexford: Oisín Foley; Seán Barden, Brian Quigley, Conor Firman; Ciarán Kirwan, Aaron Maddock (capt.), Rowan White; Ciarán O’Connor (0-4 frees), Ian Carty (0-3); Joe O’Connor (0-1), Jack Pettit (R.I.P.), Stephen O’Gorman (2-0); Bob Whitty, Mikie Dwyer (0-3), Seamus Casey (0-1). Subs. - Darren Codd (0-1) for Whitty (27), David Clarke for Barden (41), Connal Flood for Pettit (57), Damien Reck for Casey (59), Murtha Doyle for O’Gorman (60+2).