Confidence booster for Minors with league crown
THE WEXFORD Minor hurlers received a nice confidence booster - and no more ahead of their championship opener when they romped to an easy and impressive 2-23 to 2-10 victory over outclassed Offaly in the Leinster league final in sunny Innovate Wexford Park on April 4, 2015.
However, the achievement of winning had to be measured against the fact that Kilkenny didn’t enter the competition, while the Dublin side which Wexford had defeated in round one by 1-17 to 0-11 was their Under-17 development squad.
This was at a time when the Minor grade was still being played as Under-18, and this league triumph would prove to be the highlight of a campaign that very quickly turned sour.
The Wexford starting team was drawn from four secondary schools - seven players from St. Peter’s, six from Good Counsel, and one apiece from Wexford C.B.S. and Enniscorthy C.B.S. respectively.
One of the stand-out players was midfielder Ian Carty who lorded it from the off and picked off four points from play.
His colleague in that department, Ciarán O’Connor, gave a superb exhibition of free-taking, converting all eight of the placed balls that came his way from a variety of distances and angles.
Indeed, it was encouraging to see a Wexford team strike 16 first-half points, along with a mere three wides, given that inaccuracy had been a stumbling block down through the years.
It was 0-8 to 0-1 by the end of the first quarter, with O’Connor (three frees) and Carty assisted in the scoring stakes by the sadly departed Jack Pettit (two), along with two current county Senior colleagues in Mikie Dwyer and Joe O’Connor.
And although Offaly’s free-taker managed to get their side of the scoreboard ticking over in the lead-up to half-time, Wexford didn’t slacken either as the outstanding Carty made fine use of open space to add another three points to his haul.
It was 0-16 to 0-6 at the break, and a brace of goals in a 90-second period on the re-start removed any lingering doubt regarding the outcome.
Team captain Seamus Casey latched on to a Rowan White pass to solo through for the opener, before White turned from provider to scorer, moving forward from left half-back, playing a one-two with Jack Pettit, and rattling the net (2-17 to 0-7).
Even though Offaly countered with two goals early in the last quarter, it was the only sloppy spell from the victors.
Substitute Darren Codd added the last two points, and Seamus Casey forced the Offaly netminder into a superb late save as Wexford cruised to the league title.
Wexford: Oisín Foley (Crossabeg-Ballymurn); David Clarke (Glynn-Barntown), Brian Quigley (Rathnure), Conor Firman (St. Martin’s); Ciarán Kirwan (Faythe Harriers), Aaron Maddock (St. Martin’s), Rowan White (Glynn-Barntown, 1-0); Ciarán O’Connor (Rathnure, 0-8 frees), Ian Carty (Taghmon-Camross, 0-4); Jack Pettit R.I.P. (Our Lady’s Island, 0-2), Joe O’Connor (St. Martin’s, 0-2), Stephen O’Gorman (Taghmon-Camross, 0-1); Bob Whitty (Cloughbawn), Mikie Dwyer (Fethard, 0-4), Seamus Casey (Oylegate-Glenbrien, capt., 1-0). Subs. - Darren Codd (St. Martin’s, 0-2) for O’Gorman (37), Billy Dunne (Oulart-The Ballagh) for Foley (40), Stephen Stafford (Taghmon-Camross) for Pettit (40), Rory O’Connor (St. Martin’s) for Whitty (42), Seán Barden (Adamstown) for J. O’Connor (49), Damien Reck (Oylegate-Glenbrien) for Carty (55), Conor Hearne (Shelmaliers) for C. O’Connor (57), Murtha Doyle (Oulart-The Ballagh) for Dwyer (57), Johnny Hamilton (St. Martin’s) for Clarke (57).