Give Dubs the blues
Rsistence in game ruined by free count
rk Fanning made the l End and buried the -4 to 0-6). point from play, but wo previous games d’s form dipped again f-time. n, four unanswered cBride, Donal Burke, a Ryan free left Dublin vantage, and the gap ger because the latter uple of misses. O’Connor got back ulder on Seán Moran nlon lost the ball from g puck-out. k was replaced by e second-half, while took over from Aidan d, and it was no suree scores arrived from Ryan before Morris -12 to 1-6.
Lee Chin (free) fired before a crossfield s picked out defender well-taken point from minute. responded after inline ball, but Ryan pointed free prior to ng on to replace Chin. also slotted in for the Dwyer, but Wexford ain a foothold for any ven though Pádraig er point from close to der the Hogan Stand 0-14 to 1-8). lasted six minutes, card for a slap across efender Paddy Smyth. ford player to attempt ccession and, while on, it scarcely merited the ultimate sanction.
Dublin’s two sole second-half wides arrived from Ryan frees on either side of the dismissal, with the boys in blue unable to hammer any nails in the Wexford coffin at a time when their rivals looked particularly vulnerable.
A fine Mark Fanning puck-out after that second miss found Rory O’Connor, who was really coming into his own, and after he was fouled it gave Paul Morris the chance to make it 0-14 to 1-9.
However, a brilliant catch from lively substitute Eamonn ‘Trollier’ Dillon led to one of the frees that nobody could argue with, and Ryan duly produced the score before Dillon himself registered a sublime point from tight to the sideline.
Jack O’Connor over-hit a crossfield pass to little brother Rory, but he still managed to gain possession before firing over a beauty.
That arrived in the 63rd minute, and he quickly added another following a onetwo with Shaun Murphy that required the intervention of Hawk-Eye before it was awarded (0-16 to 1-11).
Unfortunately, the Oulart-The Ballagh man and Tomás Connolly were booked for something that occurred off the ball, and it was a second yellow for the Wexford defender which left the team down to 13 with four minutes of normal time left.
Two wides followed, the first via Jack O’Connor after another Hawk-Eye call, and the second from Mark Fanning.
O’Connor had been pushed towards the pitch hoarding in front of Hill 16 by Eoghan O’Donnell as the latter strike drifted off target, and the referee deemed that sufficient to show a harsh second yellow to the Dublin defender.
Rory O’Connor then earned and converted a free on the left to make it a onepoint game, going on to hit the last of Wexford’s eight wides (Dublin had seven) before a poor Joe O’Connor clearance was returned over the bar with interest by Ronan Hayes (0-17 to 1-12).
The determination to keep going until the bitter end is one of the most admirable traits of this Wexford squad, and it brought rich rewards once again as they outscored the opposition by 1-2 to 0-1 before the action concluded after five minutes and 50 seconds of added time.
The group stage will conclude at home to Carlow this Sunday at 2 p.m., and after that all eyes will be on the other results to determine the opponents for a knockout game for Wexford that will be ideal preparation for the round-robin Leinster championship.
Wexford: Mark Fanning (1-0 pen.); Joe O’Connor, Liam Ryan, Conor Firman; Damien Reck, Matthew O’Hanlon (joint capt.), Shaun Murphy; Aidan Rochford, Diarmuid O’Keeffe (0-1); Kevin Foley, Lee Chin (0-1 free), Aidan Nolan; Paul Morris (0-7, 3 frees, 1 ’65), Mikie Dwyer, Rory O’Connor (0-4, 1 free). Subs. - Pádraig Foley for K. Foley, temp. (31-HT), Pádraig Foley (0-1) for O’Hanlon (HT), Liam Óg McGovern for Rochford (HT), Jack O’Connor (1-0) for Chin (47), Conor McDonald for Dwyer (48), Cathal Dunbar for Nolan (69), also James Lawlor, Shane Reck, Simon Donohoe, Harry Kehoe, Gary Molloy, Connal Flood.
Dublin: Seán Brennan; James Madden (0-1), Eoghan O’Donnell, Cian O’Callaghan; Jake Malone, Daire Gray, Paddy Smyth; Seán Moran, Rían McBride (0-2); Danny Sutcliffe, Chris Crummey (0-1), Donal Burke (0-1); David Keogh, Ronan Hayes (0-2, 1 free), Oisín O’Rorke (0-1 free). Subs. - Paul Ryan (0-8 frees) for O’Rorke, inj. (14), Cian Boland (0-1) for Sutcliffe (43), Eamonn Dillon (0-1) for Keogh (53), Andrew Dunphy for O’Callaghan (57), Tomás Connolly for Madden (62).
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick).