HURLERS HAMMER OFFALY
Hurlers to host Galway in Wexford Park cauldron
SPORT PULLOUT INSIDE
WHEN REIGNING Leinster and All-Ireland champions, Galway, visit Innovate Wexford Park on Saturday (5 p.m.) for game three in the round robin Leinster series, Wexford manager Davy Fitzgerald will be seeking further improvement from his side.
Following their demolition job on Offaly in Bord na Móna O’Connor Park, Tullamore, on Saturday evening, all eyes are now focused on Fitzgerald’s charges to see if they can record a third victory over the reigning champions, with the only blip in their last three meetings being that Leinster final defeat.
Despite the dominant performance against Offaly, Fitzgerald is still looking for improvement from his side ahead of the Galway challenge, along with their meeting with Kilkenny in Nowlan Park seven days later.
‘We still had 19 wides, we missed a penalty. There are certain things we can improve on. But it’s good to win,’ he said.
‘We needed to win, because we want to qualify for the latter stages no matter what. We had to come out and give it one hundred per cent today. We did that.
‘We have two massive games left against Galway and Kilkenny. They will be tough. The thing we were worried about is we have to play four weeks in a row.
‘You have to get up for week one, two, three and four in a row, and three tough ones. To get up week after week, we’re very worried about the third and fourth weeks. A small break in the middle of it would be just nice.
‘I thought we died on our feet in the last ten to 15 minutes. We will take a good break during the week now and look forward to Galway,’ he added.
Fitzgerald was delighted to give Liam Og McGovern his first introduction to inter-county hurling in two years as he continues to fight his way back to full fitness following two cruciate knee ligament operations in the space of twelve months.
‘It was great to give Liam some game time. He has put in an immense effort after two serious knee cruciate operations.
‘He is now ready to go and will be a huge plus to the squad,’ Fitzgerald said.
Following the Offaly game, Fitzgerald has no fresh injury concerns and will be selecting from a full squad to take on a Galway side which really blossomed in the closing quarter victory over Kilkenny on Sunday, picking off a succession of excellent points.
On the 5-24 to 2-9 demolition of Offaly, Fitzgerald said: ‘I think it was down to our start. We just decided we needed to start at an unreal pace.
‘We got a break or two at the start and I’d say it set Offaly back a small bit.
‘I’ve been looking at Offaly most of the year and I think they have made good progress, but I think our start helped us and we were comfortable after that.’
Wexford must now step up to another level as it’s patently clear that Galway have got themselves into a position to deliver a powerful defence of their Leinster and All-Ireland titles, particularly given the manner in which they dismantled the Kilkenny challenge, being the dominant side for most of the 70 minutes.
Wexford, with both Conor McDonald and Lee Chin showing much improved form, along with Paul Morris offering more impetus in his play, are likely to go with the same starting 15.
The big question this week is can Wexford make it three victories over the Tribesmen under Davy Fitzgerald’s reign, or can Galway level the series?
THE RUTHLESS streak displayed by Wexford in Bord na Móna O’Connor Park, Tullamore, on Saturday had to be admired as they buried Offaly at an early stage and continued to rack up the scores in this complete mis-match in the Leinster Senior hurling championship.
It was never a contest at any stage, and it descended into farce in the second-half when the home side completely lost their discipline and ended up with a mere twelve men.
Still, given that many fans travelled with some trepidation, it was a display of impressive efficiency from Wexford that has been parked already as all attention is now on the visit of All-Ireland champions Galway to the south-east this Saturday (5 p.m.).
Scoring difference may yet play a part in determining the two Leinster finalists if three teams finish on equal points, so it was important for the victors to make the most of their chances.
On another day a wides total of 19 plus a missed penalty would leave plenty to quibble about, but it was difficult to be critical on this occasion as Wexford were so vastly superior that the game was over after 13 minutes.
They led by 2-5 to 0-2 at that stage, and it was clear that an outclassed Offaly had nothing to offer on a very big night for both teams.
Wexford couldn’t afford a slip-up against the team generally regarded as being the most likely to be relegated, whereas the home side had promised to tear into their rivals but clearly weren’t up to the challenge.
They simply couldn’t cope with the free movement of the winners, the inter-changing of positions up front, and their vastly superior teamwork.
Credit is due to the Wexford management also for some minor tweaks to the line-up that brought the best out of a couple of players who had been quiet in the win against Dublin.
Conor McDonald was given a bit more freedom in the half-forward line, and his opportunist goal inside two minutes marked the beginning of the end of a game watched by perhaps only half of the official 6,186 crowd, many of whom departed after Laois beat Westmeath in the football quarter-final.
Meanwhile, Lee Chin caused havoc in an unusual left corner-forward role in the second-half, and he also grabbed a well-taken first-ever inter-county Senior goal as Wexford ran riot.
Rory O’Connor joined Paul Morris as the inside forward on this occasion and caused panic any time the ball was delivered inside, while his big brother, Jack, highlighted that there’s more than one fine young hurler in that household with a barnstorming display that yielded 1-3.
It was most certainly a false dawn when Pat Camon’s handpass set up Oisín Kelly for the lead Offaly point after 36 seconds.
Just over one minute later, a long-range Pádraig Foley free came back off the post, and Conor McDonald was on it in a flash to rattle the net.
A Paul Morris point quickly followed before Rory O’Connor put Lee Chin through with a sweet overhead scoop, but a vital hook by Brendan Murphy saved Offaly’s bacon.
Jack O’Connor and Shane Dooley (free) swapped points before a run of three scores on the trot from Rory O’Connor (free), Conor McDonald and Rory O’Connor (play) left Wexford in cruise control.
Mark Fanning saved a point-scoring attempt by Shane Dooley, and 35 seconds later the flowing system devised by Davy Fitzgerald was seen in all its glory as the leaders fashioned a goal of considerable quality.
Jack O’Connor delivered a brilliant long crossfield pass from left to right for corner-back Simon Donohoe who had popped up in the wing-forward position. He in turn delivered it low and fast into the danger zone where Aidan Nolan applied the finishing touch with aplomb, extending the gap to 2-5 to 0-2.
Although Shane Dooley (free) and Kevin Dunne pulled back points, Offaly must have realised that they were in for a very tough night.
Rory O’Connor, Paul Morris, Aidan Nolan and O’Connor (free) widened the lead to 2-9 to 0-4 by the 24th minute, and any neutrals from the football counties who stayed on were already heading for the exit gates.
Jack O’Connor soloed through and saw his shot on goal well saved by Eoghan Cahill when Kevin Foley was looking for a pass to his right, but Rory knocked over the ’65.
The younger O’Connor followed with another pointed free before the half ended with mixed fortunes for Wexford from a couple of penalties.
The first arrived in the 31st minute when Paul Morris won a 50-50 tussle with Damien Egan and handpassed to Rory O’Connor who was hauled down by fullback Seán Gardiner.
A booking followed before Aidan Nolan saw his shot saved by Eoghan Cahill, and Rory’s rebound was also parried for a ’65 which he sent wide.
Just under two and a half minutes later, referee James McGrath was left with an easy task in awarding another penalty.
Conor McDonald made one of his trademark catches and was taken out of it by Gardiner who must have known what was coming as he was already on that recently-secured yellow card.
The second one was followed by a red and, to make matters worse for the locals, Mark Fanning came up from goal this time to drill a powerful shot into the top left corner of counterpart Eoghan Cahill’s net (3-11 to 0-5).
An exhange of pointed frees between Shane Dooley and Rory O’Connor left Wexford ahead by a fully-deserved 15 at the interval, and there wasn’t a hope in hell that Offaly would muster any sort of comeback.
Dooley’s free on the re-start was cancelled by Diarmuid O’Keeffe before the fourth goal arrived in the 41st minute.
A long free from Pádraig Foley was directed towards Lee Chin on the left, and he made ground before striking a low shot across Eoghan Cahill into the far corner of the net (4-13 to 0-7).
Chin then turned provider for Jack O’Connor who burst past a couple of attempted tackles and really enjoyed the moment when he crashed home the fifth.
A Kevin Foley point made it 5-14 to 0-8 with 25 minutes still to play before Offaly
did manage to respond with a well-taken goal.
Kevin Dunne’s ball in was taken on the hurl by Oisín Kelly and first-timed past Mark Fanning, but the scorer then blotted his copybook just over two minutes later when his stick made contact with Pádraig Foley’s helmet after the defender cleared his lines.
Referee McGrath sought clarification from linesman Alan Kelly before dishing out a straight red card, and Offaly would have more than happy if the Westmeath official had called a halt to proceedings there and then.
Instead, they had to endure another 20-plus minutes as Wexford piled on the points through a Jack O’Connor brace on either side of two from Lee Chin who took over free-taking after Rory O’Connor was given a rest.
There was a huge ovation from visiting supporters in the 50th minute when Liam Og McGovern marked his comeback from long-term injury with a most welcome return to the fray.
It was fantastic to see him back, a fitting reward for the endless hours of rehabilitall tion work, and he wil only grow stronger and offer another great option up front as the campaign progresses.
The last five Wexford points came from substitute Harry Kehoe (three, one free), Chin (free) and Damien Reck, although the final) score of the game was a second condeep solation Offaly goal deep into added time.
Shane Dooley applied the finishing touch from a David King line ball, but they were down to twelve men by that stage.
The third dismissal came in the 68th
minute, with Ronan Hughes collecting a straight red card for catching Mark Fanning late after the goalkeeper delivered the ball to a colleague.
Next up is the first of two immense challenges in the space of seven days. Galway have come on in leaps and bounds since their league quarter-final loss in Innovate Wexford Park, a point underlined in their dismantling of Kilkenny in Salthill on Sunday.
And after two wins against the lesser two opponents in the Leinster championship, next Saturday we will find out for sure if Wexford are on the right track to have a bigger say than last year in the race for All-Ireland honours.
Wexford: Mark Fanning (1-0 pen.); Simon Donohoe, Liam Ryan, Damien Reck (0-1); Shaun Murphy; Diarmuid O’Keeffe (0-1), Matthew O’Hanlon (joint capt.), Pádraig Foley; Kevin Foley (0-1), Aidan Nolan (1-1); Jack O’Connor (1-3), Conor McDonald (1-1), Lee Chin (1-4, 0-4 frees); Paul Morris (0-2), Rory O’Connor (0-7, 4 frees, 1 ’65). Subs. - Conor Firman for Donohoe (46), Liam Og McGovern for Morris (50), Harry Kehoe (0-3, 1 free) for R. O’Connor (50), Willie Devereux for P. Foley (54), David Dunne for Chin (65).
Offaly: Eoghan Cahill; Paddy Delaney, Seán Gardiner, Ben Conneely; David O’TooleGreene, Pat Camon, Damien Egan; Shane Kinsella, David King (capt.); Oisín Kelly (1-1), Conor Mahon, Brendan Murphy; Shane Dooley (1-5, 0-5 frees), Joe Bergin (0-1), Kevin Dunne (0-1). Subs. - Tommy Geraghty (0-1) for Murphy (HT), Colin Egan for Mahon (HT), Dan Currams for Kinsella (42), Paddy Rigney for Conneely (48), Ronan Hughes for Bergin (54).
Referee: James McGrath (Westmeath).