Ben’s huge impact in milestone game
Brosnan hits 2-4 on 100th appearance
WEXFORD D.C.U. 2-6 0-10 BEN BROSNAN marked his century of appearances for the Wexford Senior footballers in the best possible manner in St. Patrick’s Park, Enniscorthy, on Wednesday when his fine individual haul of 2-4 powered the home side to a hardearned two-point win over D.C.U. in their second Bord na Móna O’Byrne Cup Group 1 encounter.
It was no walk in the park for the eventual victors as they only managed to kick two second-half points along with ten wides, failing to score from the 47th minute onwards.
However, they still did enough to chalk up a first victory under new manager Seamus McEnaney, leaving them with everything to play for ahead of Sunday’s showdown with a skeleton selection from All-Ireland champions Dublin.
Brosnan was in flying form on the night he became the fourth current panel member to reach the milestone of lining out one hundred times for the county, following in the footsteps of Brian Malone, P.J. Banville and Ciarán Lyng.
His two goals were finished with aplomb, and they made all the difference in a game featuring three debutants for the victors: wing-forward James Stafford (Glynn-Barntown) along with Ian Carty (Taghmon-Camross) and Daire Barden (Fethard), two of the nine substitutes utilised.
The sides were level (0-2 each) when Brosnan pounced for the first time in the 13th minute. Midfielder Syl Byrne was involved initially before the centre-forward played a one-two with Paul Curtis and surged clear prior to planting the ball in the net.
Curtis had given Wexford the lead earlier in the second minute with the first of just two points that ended up being registered from play. Prior to that his cross had been added to by full-forward Tom Byrne but it was cleared off the line as the students overcame an early scare.
Caolan McGonagle equalised from a free for D.C.U. while James Durcan saw his effort on goal saved before a teasing delivery by Eanna O’Connor - the son of ex-Kerry boss, Jack, who plays with Moorefield in Kildare - went over the bar via the fist of netminder Philip Murphy.
Ben Brosnan curled the first of four converted frees just inside the right post after a foul on Tom Byrne in the eleventh minute, and that subsequent goal gave Wexford a lead they would never relinquish.
The more experienced of the Byrne brothers, Paddy, claimed the first mark for the locals in the 14th minute, with McGonagle having done likewise earlier for the visitors who won by 1-8 to 1-2 at the same venue this time last year.
Brosnan knocked over his second free after Ryan Nolan was impeded, with D.C.U. centre-forward Shane Carthy responsible for the third and final mark of the opening half before Eanna O’Connor was picked out by Cian Mulligan for a point (1-3 to 0-3).
The Brosnan show continued though, as the Bannow-Ballymitty man pointed his third free after a foul on John Leacy prior to utilising his blinding pace once again for the second goal in the 24th minute.
Ryan Nolan supplied the perfect handpass into open ground right in front of the night’s top scorer who bore down on Shane Mannion before driving the ball high into his net (2-4 to 0-3).
Just one more score was recorded before the break, with Eanna O’Connor directing a free between the posts in the 30th minute after Kieran Butler was booked for a foul on Conor Doran.
Wexford looked quite solid defensively in that first-half, with newcomer Stafford operating as a sweeper while fellow wing-forward Jake Firman also started his runs from deep. Both made significant impacts with their pace while joining the lines of attack.
The substitutions came thick and fast from the interval onwards, and this didn’t help the general flow although giving as many players as possible a chance was clearly the correct thing to do.
D.C.U. resumed full of intent as lively Louth replacement Ryan Burns and Shairoze Akram, the Pakistan-born All-Ireland Under-21 medal winner with Mayo, pulled back points inside two minutes (2-4 to 0-6).
They had Cian Mulligan black-carded before Wexford ended 21 scoreless minutes when Rob Tierney handpassed to clubmate James Stafford who raced into space before driving over his first point at this level.
Ben Brosnan made it 2-6 to 0-6 in the 48th minute from another free earned by Paul Curtis, but Wexford made hard work of claiming the victory as they didn’t trouble the scoreboard operator again.
No fewer than eight of their 13 wides in total came after that final score was chalked up, and some were very poor attempts indeed, but the response rate from D.C.U. wasn’t sufficient to alter the outcome.
Ryan Burns (free), Mark Plunkett, James Mealiff and Plunkett once more pointed in the 59th, 62nd, 65th and 72nd minutes respectively, but the winners nearly fashioned a third goal close to the end when Graham Carty’s shot was saved and Paddy Byrne - who claimed the only Wexford mark from the four witnessed in the second period - saw his effort from the rebound blocked for a ’45.
Wexford: Philip Murphy; Rob Tierney, Jim Rossiter, Joey Wadding; Kieran Butler, John Leacy (capt.), Tiarnan Rossiter; Paddy Byrne, Syl Byrne; Jake Firman, Ben Brosnan (2-4, 0-4 frees), James Stafford (0-1); Paul Curtis (0-1), Tom Byrne, Ryan Nolan. Subs. - Seán Gaul for J. Rossiter (HT), Robbie Vallejo for Leacy (HT), Robbie Barron for T. Rossiter (HT), Graham Carty for T. Byrne (43), Ian Carty for Brosnan (49), Daire Barden for Tierney, inj. (54), Colm Kehoe for S. Byrne (60), P.J. Banville for Nolan (60), Kevin O’Grady for Curtis (63).
D.C.U.: Shane Mannion (Galway); Eoin Smith (Dublin), James Mealiff (Monaghan, 0-1), David Neary (Roscommon); Conor Doran (Meath), Kevin Feely (Kildare), Brian Crawley; Steven O’Brien (Tipperary, capt.), Caolan McGonagle (Donegal, 0-1 free); Cian Mulligan (Donegal), Shane Carthy (Dublin), Tom Lahiffe (Dublin); Eanna O’Connor (Kildare, 0-3, 1 free), Hugh McFadden (Donegal), James Durcan (Mayo). Subs. - Shairoze Akram (Mayo, 0-1) for Neary (30), Thomas Galligan (Cavan) for O’Brien (HT), Ryan Burns (Louth, 0-2, 1 free) for Lahiffe (HT), David Mannix (Kerry) for O’Connor (HT), Eoghan Smyth (Dublin) for Mulligan, black card (39), Mark Plunkett (Leitrim, 0-2) for Durcan (46), Ciarán Boylan for Doran (57), Thomas O’Reilly (Meath) for McGonagle (60), Neary for Feely, inj. (66), McGonagle for Smyth (70+1), Smythe for Akram (70+2).
Referee: David Hickey (Carlow).