Wexford finish disappointing 21st in Kennedy Cup

IT WAS a disappointing 21st place finish for Wexford at the 2017 Kennedy Cup in Limerick as the boys from the south-east won three of their six matches in the tournament, including victory in their final game against Longford.

Simon Barnes’ side were drawn in Group 3 with local teams Limer- ick District and Limerick County, as well as Athlone. They recorded the joint biggest winning margin in the opening round of fixtures, beating Limerick County 4-0.

With hopes high, Wexford went into the second game against an Athlone side which won its opening fixture, knowing that the winner would likely go on to top the group and make the Cup quarter-finals.

Unfortunately for the boys in gold with purple stripes, the midlanders proved too good, running out 3-0 winners. With a bit of a hangover from that game earlier in the day, Wexford then lost 2-1 to Limerick District.

After finishing third in the group, Wexford faced Cavan/Monaghan in the Shield quarter-final. The Ulster duo came into the game on the back of a 5-0 hammering from Kildare but had a change of fortunes by edging their way past Wexford by one goal.

The Shield quarter-final losers drop into a competition for finishing places between 21st and 24th, and Wexford began their quest to finish as high as possible with a narrow 1-0 victory over South Tipperary on Thursday morning

Unlike two days earlier, when they struggled with back-to-back games, the win gave Wexford a boost and they went on to easily dispatch Longford 2-0 to finish in 21st place out of 32 overall.

Dublin and District Schoolboys League retained the Cup having not conceded a goal in their six matches. They beat surprise package Sligo/Leitrim 2-0 in the title decider.