Kerry show grit in Wexford defeat

NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 1B

Wexford 3-18 Kerry 0-12

AFTER the crushing disappointment of the Gaelic Grounds, this was just what the doctor ordered.

Granted Kerry lost the game – they were always likely to – but they showed grit and determination and a refusal to bow to their supposed betters. Without Mikey Boyle, without Shane Nolan few gave them much of a chance of taking something from the game and, yet, by half-time they were well in it.

Davy Fitzgerald’s Wexford were raging hot favourites – why would become clear in the second half – but with the breeze at their backs in the first half Kerry gave their illustrious hosts something to think about.

The Kingdom are an honest, hard-working bunch of lads. They probably found Wexford shot-stopper Shaun Murphy too much in the first half and Wexford built from there.

Early doors, however, Aaron Maddock and Harry Kehoe combined to find Lee Chin for the opening score after seventeen seconds. Wexford managed just one further point from play in the opening half.

David Redmond almost found Diarmuid O’Keeffe breaking through moments later but Martin Stackpoole was alert and made a telling interception.

Kerry levelled the scores in the third minute when Bryan Murphy nailed a booming effort from just outside his own ‘45.

For the first time but not the last on the afternoon, Harry Kehoe hit the upright as his side looked to go in front again. It did happen in the sixth minute when Chin converted a dead-ball after the lively Maddock was felled.

Mark Fanning did well under a tricky Jack Goulding ball into the goalmouth, but misplaced his clearance, picking out John Buckley, the Kerry attacker made no mistake from the right side of the posts. A second followed for the Lixnaw clubman as the his side went 0-3 to 0-2 up.

Conor McDonald levelled the scores after Jack O’Connor was fouled in the 11th minute, but back came the visitors to take what would be their second and final lead of the afternoon when Padraig Boyle knocked over a placed-ball seconds later.

From there Wexford struck four points in-a-row. Twice the marauding O’Keeffe was fouled with Chin and McDonald hitting the target. The latter then missed one from 55 metres out after Harry Kehoe was upended.

The pass of the half, crossfield by Jack O’Connor to Lee Chin, allowed the Faythe Harriers man to set up Paul Morris for Wexford’s second point from play in the 20th minute. It left them 0-6 to 0-4 ahead.

Again the final ball was just off when Chin and David Redmond combined through the centre as Davy Fitzgerald’s side went searching for goal. Conor McDonald extended the lead to three in the 26th minute but a major was on if referee John Keenan had played advantage when O’Connor offloaded while being fouled left of goal.

Jack Goulding robbed O’Keeffe’s pocket and pointed in the 31st minute. Then Kehoe nailed the upright for the second time in the period. Kerry ended the half on the front foot with Jordan Conway and Paudie O’Connor notching to level the scores at the interval (0-7 each).

While Wexford opened the second half scoring after a nice move involving O’Keeffe and Redmond, which ended with McDonald hitting the target, Kerry would have been happy with the first five minutes of the half – barring their inaccurate finishing.

However, Wexford broke them in just over sixty seconds. Chin started the burst with a point. Stackpoole then played a clean, short puck-out, the next pass went straight to Harry Kehoe and the Cloughbawn man raced away to net.

It quickly got worse. Liam Ryan flicked down the line to O’Keeffe, whose effort cracked the upright. Morris was alert but quickly surrounded. The Ferns man offloaded to O’Keeffe in stride and he smashed low to the rigging. Almost out of nowhere it was 2-9 to 0-7.

Colum Harty replied for a shellshocked Kerry with a classy point from a tight angle. However, that was their only score in the first 22 minutes of the second half.

Patrick Kelly also picked up his second yellow in that spell and Wexford soon put the game out of reach.

McDonald nailed a brace of frees before O’Keeffe added a tidy point to his earlier major. A huge strike by Matthew O’Hanlon split the posts in the 55th minute and Wexford were 2-13 to 0-8 ahead of Kerry.

Seven minutes after Jack Guiney returned to the Wexford side for the first time since 2015, he showed exactly what he was capable of, picking up Kehoe’s ball inside the Kerry full-back line and coolly dispatching past Stackpoole to the net.

To their credit, the Kingdom conceded just five points in the remaining twelve minutes plus added time and scored four themselves.

For Kerry there was enough in the performance to give a certain amount of hope before the visit of Galway to Austin Stack Park.

WEXFORD: Mark Fanning; Simon Donohoe, Liam Ryan, James Breen; Damien Reck (0-1), Matthew O’Hanlon (joint-capt, 0-1), Diarmuid O’Keeffe (1-1); Shaun Murphy, Jack O’Connor; Harry Kehoe (1-1), Aaron Maddock, David Redmond; Paul Morris (0-1), Lee Chin (joint-capt, 0-4, 2 frees), Conor McDonald (0-6, 5 frees) Subs: David Dunne for Redmond (49), Jack Guiney (1-1) for Morris (50), Gary Moore for McDonald (60), Eanna Martin (0-1) for O’Keeffe (61), Willie Devereux (0-1) for Breen (64), also, Oliver O’Leary, Shane O’Gorman, Eoin Conroy, Podge Doran, Andrew Kenny, Cathal Dunbar

KERRY: Martin Stackpoole; Keith Carmody, Rory Horgan, Seán Weir; Darren Dineen, Bryan Murphy (0-1), James O’Connor; Jack Goulding (0-2), Paudie O’Connor (0-1); Daniel Collins, Patrick Kelly, Colum Harty (0-3); John Buckley (0-3, 1 free), Padraig Boyle (0-1 free), Jordan Conway (0-1) Subs: James Godley for Horgan, temp (47-60), Tomás O’Connor for Goulding (62), Brendan O’Leary for Boyle (62), Jason Wallace for Buckley (66), Daniel O’Carroll for Conway (66), J. Godley for P. O’Connor (70), also, Aidan McCabe, Stephen Murphy, Fionán Horgan, Philip Lucid, Sean Hogan, Tom Murnane

REFEREE: John Keenan (Wicklow)