K as Wexford pipped
Way win memorable provincial decider
O’Reilly later called urphy twice on the tepped outside his , with the first leading s Casey free after Joe d from the throw-in. already boiling hot stand, raising the ire ort as that point was he trot from Wexford pell. ish to the first-half rom arrears of 1-8 to ute into a 0-13 to 1-8 provided inspiration rom 90 metres, while beauty from play as ees (and one wide). Stephen O’Gorman and Rowan White also chipped in with scores as the underdogs retired for the interval in the driving seat.
Six minutes into the new half, the situation was even better (0-16 to 1-9) after an early Evan Niland free was followed by one of the best points of the game, finished by Joe O’Connor after great work by Damien Reck and Rory O’Connor.
Stephen O’Gorman latched on to a Rowan White pass for his second point, while Rory O’Connor scored from the right sideline but only after an unfortunate Wexford penalty miss.
Galway’s Mark Hughes was easily out-paced by Rory Higgins in the right corner, and the Rathnure lad handpassed to O’Gorman who was taken down by the yellow-carded Shane Bannon before he could shoot.
Seamus Casey’s penalty was well saved by Eanna Murphy, but the goalkeeper’s handpass only found Rory O’Connor who returned it over the bar with interest.
Galway needed something special to get back into contention, and they helped their cause no end with three unanswered points from two Evan Niland frees and Thomas Monaghan (0-16 to 1-12).
Another twist was just around the corner though, as Joe O’Connor caught a Jack Cushe puck-out, found Seamus Casey in space, and the corner-forward bore down on goal before cracking a low drive off the hard ground and into the net.
When Rowan White followed immediately with a point from a Rory O’Connor handpass, Wexford led by five and appeared well placed to tackle the final 17 minutes.
In the space of less than 80 seconds, all that changed. Kevin Cooney latched on to Patrick Foley’s pass into the right corner, beat Shane Reck on a solo run and blasted the ball to the far corner for Galway’s second goal.
And before Wexford had time to recover, Thomas Monaghan found Evan Niland who ran at the heart of the defence with Damien Reck and Ian Carty on his tail before his looping shot appeared to deceive Cushe and ended up in the net.
A Cooney point from the sideline made it 3-13 to 1-17, but Wexford had no intention of lying down. The margin was down to one (3-14 to 1-19) as we moved into the four additional minutes, with Seamus Casey converting two frees either side of a Fintan Burke point, and also firing a shot on goal to the left and wide.
Galway were also reduced to 14 men when the score stood at 3-14 to 1-18, with Shane Bannon dismissed on a second booking.
Niland and Casey swapped points from frees, but Galway then went three clear after another converted Niland placed ball was followed by a score from Conor Caulfield (3-17 to 1-20).
By the time Ian Carty pounced for the equaliser, those four added minutes had hit the 5:24 mark on the stopwatch.
He had pushed up for a puck-out, and the ball initially broke to him before Rory Higgins got it out of a forest of players and back into his path. The Taghmon-Camross lad showed admirable composure, controlling it with his first touch on the hurl before striking it into the far corner of the net to cue bedlam among the Wexford following.
And the momentum of that rousing score was carried into the first period of extra-time, as Galway were outscored by four points to one even though they were restored to 15 men.
Casey (free), Rory Higgins and Rory O’Connor (two frees) did the damage, with the latter taking over those duties after Casey had to depart owing to injury.
A Jack Canning snapshot for goal was saved by Jack Cushe, and Galway were restricted to that sole point from Cianan Fahy.
Niland (free) drew first blood in the second period, with tiredness setting in as Wexford struck four wides before more great work by the tireless Conor Firman set up Joe O’Connor for a point (2-25 to 3-19).
Cianan Fahy made a huge contribution to the Galway cause by converting a ‘65 and a 90-metre free, but Wexford rejoiced just over 30 seconds into the one added minute when Rory O’Connor landed a monster point to leave two between them.
Mere seconds separated them from joy and despair, but Seán Bleahene’s late, late goal served as the most crushing of blows at the end of one of the best games ever seen at this level.
Established Senior players Rory O’Connor (the official man of the match), Damien Reck and Conor Firman was immense, with the likes of Darren Byrne, Ian Carty, Joe O’Connor, Rory Higgins and Seamus Casey also enhancing growing reputations.
Hopefully the pain of this loss will be channelled into giving Cork one hell of a test in the All-Ireland semi-final next month.
Wexford: Jack Cushe (Naomh Eanna); Shane Reck (Oylegate-Glenbrien), Darren Byrne (Blackwater), Damien Reck (Oylegate-Glenbrien); Aaron Maddock (St. Martin’s), Ian Carty (Taghmon-Camross, 1-0), Rowan White (Glynn-Barntown, 0-2); Gary Molloy (Naomh Eanna, 0-1), Conor Firman (St. Martin’s, capt.); Joe O’Connor (St. Martin’s, 0-2), Rory O’Connor (St. Martin’s, 0-7, 2 frees), Liam Stafford (Adamstown); Stephen O’Gorman (Taghmon-Camross, 0-2), Rory Higgins (Rathnure, 0-1), Seamus Casey (Oylegate-Glenbrien, 1-11, 0-9 frees). Subs. - Oisín Foley (Crossabeg-Ballymurn) for Stafford (52), Mikie Dwyer (Fethard) for O’Gorman (52), Darren Codd (St. Martin’s) for White (56), O’Gorman for Casey, inj. (66), Jack Cullen (Naomh Eanna) for Higgins (77), also James Henebery (Faythe Harriers), David Clarke (Glynn-Barntown), Eoin Molloy (Naomh Eanna), Jody Donohoe (Shelmaliers), Quinn Saunders (Our Lady’s Island).
Galway: Eanna Murphy; Shane Bannon, Jack Fitzpatrick, Ian O’Shea; Jack Grealish, Fintan Burke (capt., 0-1), Mark Hughes; Thomas Monaghan (1-2), Seán Loftus (0-1); Brian Concannon (0-2), Cian Salmon, Cianan Fahy (0-5, 1 ’65, 1 free); Evan Niland (1-7, 0-7 frees), Seán Bleahene, Kevin Cooney (1-2). Subs. - Patrick Foley for Salmon (HT), Conor Caulfield (0-1) for Hughes (41), Jack Canning for Bleahene (42), Ciarán O’Connor (15th man for extra-time), Ronan Murphy for Concannon (66), Michael Lynch for Monaghan (75), Bleahene (1-0) for Niland (77).
Referee: John O’Brien (Laois).