F quarter-final clash
Mpant Wexford have 21 points to spare
e when he attracted om the crowd arrived atch near the stand minute which led to dragged up against ng. wasn’t injured, and ed he was one of five yellow cards for their minor incident along d Carlow trio Edward gh and Seán Whelan. oints were shared, or placed ball and an or strike from a poor by Diarmuid Byrne e).
’s brothers were cenopening Wexford goal added minutes, with by Conor McDonald kly to Jack who was middle. niously brought to the ade his way back out ee was taken, it was a of the officials saw the nistered by a Carlow lutching his face. spotted it, because ver a handy point as expected, he drilled t before turning with owledge the roars of nd. There’s only one thuggery, with Rory giving the perfect response as Wexford surged into a 1-13 to 1-5 lead.
Jack continued to be in the wars, with Jon Nolan booked for a late slap on the Wexford attacker after he cleared a ball from deep in his own defence.
Carlow were getting more indisciplined with every passing minute at that stage of the game, and it was no harm that the halftime whistle intervened after Chris Nolan pulled back a long-range point.
Rory O’Connor had a 50 per cent success rate from two long-range frees on the re-start, with Nolan hitting the target from one in between.
And when the former was replaced by Paul Morris after getting what looked like a minor injury, it took mere seconds for a man enjoying a very productive league campaign on the whole to open his account (1-16 to 1-7).
Morris took over the free-taking duties also, and punished fouls on Pádraig Foley and Conor McDonald to widen the gap to eleven.
That high challenge on the Gorey player led to Carlow’s Edward Byrne departing on a second yellow card, with his protestations as he left the field somewhat difficult to understand given the clearcut nature of the offence.
Morris fired another one over from play after Damien Jordan’s puck-out, with Chris Nolan (free) briefly intervening before the super-sub hit three more scores on the trot (one from a free) to make it 1-22 to 1-8 at the start of the final quarter.
The Nolans, Chris (free) and Aidan, then exchanged points before the last of eight from Paul Morris after John Michael Nolan was booked for a foul on Diarmuid O’Keeffe.
There was still ample time for Wexford to add another 1-5 to their haul, before conceding the last two points to Ted Joyce and John Michael Nolan.
Jack O’Connor’s third was followed by one apiece from Conor McDonald, Simon Donohoe, substitute Cathal Dunbar and Mikie Dwyer, with the latter rewarded for putting in another decent shift up front.
The second goal was a gift from Carlow, arriving in the last minute of normal time before four extra were played.
A pull by Dunbar was gathered on his own line by substitute Ger Coady, but his attempt to handpass clear was blocked into the net by the alert Diarmuid O’Keeffe, whose father-in-law to-be, Jarlath Burns from Armagh, failed narrowly in his bid to become the next President of the G.A.A. on Friday night.
Wexford: James Lawlor; Simon Donohoe (0-1), Liam Ryan, Shane Reck; Connal Flood (0-2), Pádraig Foley, Matthew O’Hanlon; Aidan Nolan (0-2), Diarmuid O’Keeffe (1-2); Rory O’Connor (1-6, 1-5 frees), Conor McDonald (0-1), Jack O’Connor (0-3); Harry Kehoe (0-2), Mikie Dwyer (0-1), Liam Óg McGovern. Subs. - Paul Morris (0-8, 4 frees) for R. O’Connor (41), Shaun Murphy for Foley (44), Cathal Dunbar (0-1) for Kehoe (55), Seamus Casey for J. O’Connor (62), Gary Molloy for McDonald (67), also Mark Fanning, Joe O’Connor, Conor Firman, Damien Reck, Kevin Foley, Aidan Rochford.
Carlow: Damien Jordan; Michael Malone, Paul Doyle (joint capt.), Michael Doyle; Alan Corcoran, David English, Gary Bennett; Seán Whelan, Aaron Amond; Jack Kavanagh, Diarmuid Byrne (1-1), Jon Nolan; Chris Nolan (0-8, 6 frees), Edward Byrne, Ted Joyce (0-1). Subs. - John Michael Nolan (0-1) for J. Kavanagh, blood (35+4 until the end), Ciarán Whelan for D. Byrne (HT), Kevin McDonald for S. Whelan (45), Cathal Tracey for Jon Nolan (49), Ger Coady for Corcoran (52), Jason O’Neill for English, inj. (61).
Referee: Colum Cunning (Antrim).