Armagh spoil the party
A grim ending to footballers’ league fairytale
WEXFORD’S FAIRYTALE run to the Allianz Football League Division 1 final came to an abrupt end in Croke Park on May 1, 2005, when a Steven McDonnell-inspired Armagh side gained revenge for an earlier group defeat.
The All-Ireland champions of just three years earlier outclassed Pat Roe’s men on a 1-21 to 1-14 scoreline in a disappointing decider watched by 46,445 spectators.
Nonetheless, it marked the first important step taken by Wexford in becoming a serious football force for the remainder of the decade, with the super work of the manager from Laois carried on by his successor, Jason Ryan.
The losers could have no complaints about the result on a day when their hungry rivals had too much power, experience and skill for the disjointed Slaneysiders.
Wexford made far too many passing and handling errors, turned the ball over too easily, and were severely punished time and time again by Joe Kernan’s ruthless side.
The pre-match build-up had focused on the merits of two of the game’s best attackers in Matty Forde and Steven McDonnell.
And the 25-year-old Killeavy clubman was inspired throughout, with every ball he kicked seeming to sail between the posts.
He scored a fantastic ten points, including six from play in the second-half, and four separate
Wexford markers (Niall Murphy, Colm Morris, Robert Mageean and Darragh Breen) struggled to cope with him.
In contrast, Forde found it difficult to shake off the glue-like Andy Mallon, and experienced a rare off-day in front of the posts.
He registered only one point from play, and struck six of Wexford’s nine wides.
Appearing in their first Division 1 league final in 59 years, Wexford started very well and actually led by 0-5 to 0-4 after 20 minutes.
However, the Ulster men upped a gear for the last 15 minutes of the first-half and outscored their rivals in that period by 0-8 to 0-1.
They stretched their lead to nine points (0-17 to 0-8) by the 44th minute, before a great goal from
Diarmuid Kinsella midway through the half gave Wexford some hope (0-18 to 1-10).
However, Armagh substitute Paddy McKeever finally put the game beyond their reach twelve minutes from the end with a simple finish.
The start of the game was delayed almost 28 minutes due to the invasion of the pitch by success-starved Monaghan supporters following their Division 2 final win over Meath.
Corner-back Niall Murphy created an unwanted piece of history leading up to half-time when he became the last man to be dismissed and replaced on the yellow-card system which was scrapped after an experiment in that year’s league.
However, it did return in a different guise, albeit with a change of colour to black, in more recent times.
Murphy tripped Oisín McConville just outside the square as he was about to pull the trigger, and he was replaced by clubmate Robert Mageean as Steven McDonnell tapped over the free that followed to make it 0-12 to 0-6.
Manager Roe was frank as ever in his after-match assessment. ‘We were beaten by the better team on the day, no question,’ he said.
‘Armagh were first class. But we came up here to win today, and fell short at the final hurdle. It’s a harsh lesson, but we will have to learn from it.
‘We turned the ball over far too easily and Armagh crucified us for that,’ he continued.
‘They punished our mistakes, which a lot of their scores came directly from. At times we didn’t show enough composure on the ball, and we hurried passes and didn’t look for the best options open to us.
‘We have had a good National League campaign, having reached the Division 1 final, and have made great strides so far this year. True, we probably exceeded our expectations, as our initial aim was to retain our place in Division 1.’
Wexford: John Cooper; Colm Morris, Philip Wallace (0-1), Niall Murphy; Darragh Breen, David Murphy, Shane Cullen; David Fogarty (0-1), Nicky Lambert; Diarmuid Kinsella (1-1), Paddy Colfer, John Hegarty; Redmond Barry (0-1), John Hudson (capt., 0-2), Matty Forde (0-7, 5 frees, 1 ’45). Subs. - Robert Mageean for N. Murphy (yellow card), Jim D’Arcy for Colfer, Pat Forde for Hegarty, Darren Foran (0-1) for D’Arcy, inj., Páraic Curtis for Mageean.
Armagh: Paul Hearty; Andy Mallon, Francie Bellew, Paul McCormack (0-1); Aaron Kernan (0-1), Kieran McGeeney (capt.), Ciarán McKeever; John Toal, Paul McGrane; Martin O’Rourke, John McEntee (0-1), Oisín McConville (02); Steven McDonnell (0-10, 3 frees), Ronan Clarke (0-2), Brian Mallon (0-4). Subs. - Paddy McKeever (1-0) for M. O’Rourke, Justin McNulty for Bellew, Andrew McCann for Kernan, Aidan O’Rourke for C. McKeever, Philip Loughran for McGrane.
Referee: Gearóid O Conamha (Galway).