Tipp turn on power to sink brave Wexford
Underdogs blitzed in late scoring burst after giving their all for 60 minutes
SOMETIMES THE scoreboard at game’s end paints an inaccurate picture of what happened beforehand. And that was undoubtedly the case in Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, on Sunday when 19,095 spectators watched Wexford’s six-game unbeaten journey in the Allianz Hurling League being brought to an end by All-Ireland champions Tipperary at the semi-final stage, our first appearance in the last four since 2007.
The hot favourites displayed their sheer class in a devastating burst from the 60th minute onwards, outscoring the underdogs by 3-6 to 1-3 to establish a winning margin of eleven points and set up a showdown for the title with Galway in Limerick in five days’ time.
Let’s not forget though that the margin was a mere two points (2-12 to 0-16) when Conor McDonald stepped up to a midfield free in the 58th minute and sent it to the left and narrowly wide.
Wexford had hit three points on the trot beforehand, courtesy of Lee Chin, David Dunne and Chin again, and the confidence appeared to be surging through their veins.
Tipperary showed exactly why they’re the top dogs right now though with the quality of their response, putting the outcome to rest with a brace of goals from the outstanding McGrath brothers who had also grabbed one apiece in the opening half.
Wexford’s brave and spirited resistance was broken with no hope of being repaired in the 60th minute when Seamus Callanan knocked the ball into the path of Dan McCormack whose handpass found John McGrath slightly to the right of goal, and he hammered it to the net to leave Tipperary clear by 3-12 to 0-16.
His older sibling, Noel, added a point before catching a delivery from the left by substitute John O’Dwyer over Diarmuid O’Keeffe’s head and rattling the sliothar past Mark Fanning again.
Wexford didn’t deserve the mauling that followed as they lost their way completely near the end. It had taken incredible levels of concentration and physical strength to match the best team in the land for so long, and there was simply nothing left in the tank as the clock ticked towards the 70th minute.
John McGrath and O’Dwyer increased the margin to ten points before Conor McDonald had a shot on goal blocked, although he did tap over a free - Wexford’s first score in over ten minutes - after a foul on Jack O’Connor.
Tipperary were intent on hurting their rivals as much as possible after finally shaking them off, and a fifth goal followed from midfielder Brendan Maher who angled a low drive across Mark Fanning into the far corner of the net in the 69th minute.
Substitutes Kevin Foley and Daire Quinn swapped points as the game moved into four added minutes, and the chance of a consolation goal arose when Jack Guiney grabbed a Willie Devereux clearance and was held for a penalty.
Mark Fanning made the long trek upfield but didn’t get hold of his shot which was saved quite comfortably by his counterpart, Darren Gleeson. However, the ball remained in the Tipperary half, and eventually the unlikely figure of defender Liam Ryan drilled home his first-ever inter-county Senior goal to take some of the lopsided look off that scoreboard.
Michael Breen and Lee Chin (’65) exchanged points, the latter after a goal effort by Jack Guiney was turned around the post, with a battered and bruised Wexford ending the contest a good deal wiser as to what’s really needed to survive at the very highest level.
To give Tipperary the credit they deserve, they absorbed the very best of what we threw at them, never panicked, and then moved into a higher gear that we simply couldn’t live with.
And they did so while scoring a marvellous 5-17 from play, having been awarded a mere three frees throughout by a sub-standard referee in Diarmuid Kirwan who enraged Wexford followers in the lead-up to the second Tipperary goal.
James Breen was clearly fouled in the left corner but the Offaly-born Cork official allowed play to continue, and Noel McGrath was left with time on his hands to beat Mark Fanning and push the Premier county 2-2 to 0-2 clear.
The final free count was 15-3 in our favour (not 16-2 as TG4 claimed), so perhaps Kirwan was influenced in some way by an irate Davy Fitzgerald’s arrival on the field of play for an exchange of views with Tipperary’s Niall O’Meara and Jason Forde after that goal.
And while every Wexford person in the ground no doubt felt we were hard done by on that occasion, there could be no arguments about the first goal conceded just over eleven minutes earlier.
That was caused by a basic error as James Breen failed to control a long ball down the right wing. It was a fatal mistake to make with John McGrath lurking in behind, and the attacker duly cut in from the corner-forward position and drilled an unstoppable shot high into Mark Fanning’s net.
Seamus Callanan (play and ’65) had pointed earlier, but if anyone thought this was going to be easy for the favourites, they were quickly disabused of that notion.
Lee Chin had won the toss and Wexford opted to face the wind first, with the individual match-ups becoming apparent from the off: Breen on John McGrath, Damien Reck on Noel McGrath, Liam Ryan on Callanan, and Willie Devereux on Steven O’Brien.
Chin dropped a couple of early frees into the elements short, with both cleared by Pádraic Maher, but there was certainly no question of Tipperary surging well clear after that early 1-2 scoring burst.
David Dunne and Conor McDonald shot the first two of Wexford’s 13 wides (Tipp. had 14) before Darren Gleeson’s poor puck-out after the latter miss was seized upon by Jack O’Connor who pulled back a point and got his side off the mark in the tenth minute.
McDonald registered another wide and had a point-scoring attempt pulled down by Gleeson before finally getting his eye in when he punished a foul on David Dunne.
That second Tipperary goal came after Shaun Murphy lost precious seconds on the ball in the left corner with a bad first touch, and his pass to James Breen left the Adamstown man under some pressure. Still, he was impeded without question, so the anger was understandable after he coughed up possession and Tipperary had the ball in the net seconds later.
It left the Munster men ahead by 2-2 to 0-2, but Wexford stuck doggedly to the task and did very well to outscore their rivals for the remainder of the half by 0-6 to 0-4.
Indeed, most followers would have settled beforehand for a four-point deficit at the break, and it was very pleasing to see that the players were holding their own in their biggest test yet.
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David Redmond availed of a short Chin line ball to cut the deficit, and tacked on his third point as Wexford supporters started to get excited about what might transpire.
And although Breen and Jason Forde responded at the other end, that run of three points from Chin, Dunne and Chin again left the scoreline reading 2-12 to 0-16 as we entered the game’s critical period.
Alas, that closing quarter of an hour is best forgotten from a Wexford viewpoint, highlighting that the team is still a long way from where it wants to be.
Nonetheless, on the whole this campaign must be regarded as a resounding success, and the championship will be approached with heightened anticipation as a result.
It will begin with a Leinster quarter-final on May 27 or 28 against one of the four round robin teams - Meath, Westmeath, Kerry or Laois - who begin their series of games next Sunday.