Duffy gets last-gasp leveller for Wexford
Persistent Wexford F.C. share spoils away to Ramblers
SCORING AN equalising goal in the last minute of normal time is certainly a good way for a new striker to earn the respect of his team’s supporters.
And Lee Duffy stepped up to the mark to do exactly that in St. Colman’s Park on Saturday as Wexford F.C. got the reward their persistence deserved when they struck for that late leveller to earn a share of the spoils with Cobh Ramblers in their first game of the new SSE Airtricity First Division season, a game watched by 320 spectators.
The ex-Longford Town attacker had been introduced with 21 minutes left to add some punch up front, as the visitors had to go for it at that stage since they trailed 1-0.
Prior to that Craig Hayes had been the lone front man in a starting line-up featuring two wingers in Liam Donnelly and Seán Hurley, but he moved into the supporting role as Duffy positioned himself closest to the opposition goal.
And he was certainly in the right place at the perfect time with 45 seconds of the regulation 90 minutes remaining, after fullback Andrew O’Connor forced Ben O’Riordan into conceding Wexford’s third corner on the left.
It was played short and then the ball was floated in superbly by Shane Dunne to Duffy who diverted it across goal and into the far corner of the net with a deft flick.
Ramblers were left shellshocked and frustrated, but on the overall balance of play the ‘new’ club undoubtedly deserved a share of the spoils in a game played on a pock-marked, sticky surface which turned passing into a lottery at times.
They looked the more threatening side in the first-half and, although they were rocked by the concession of a goal from a superb free-kick in the 53rd minute, they never gave up the fight and finally managed to break the home team’s resistance.
With vice-captain Craig McCabe still nursing a calf injury, Enniscorthy’s Ricky Fox filled the right-back slot in one of six personnel changes to the starting line-up from the 4-2 Leinster Senior Cup loss to Shelbourne eight days earlier.
Captain Graham Doyle returned for Corey Chambers between the sticks, with Thomas Croke, Seán Hurley, Craig Hayes and Liam Donnelly all included while John McKeown, Lee Duffy, Conor Sutton and Mark Slater started on the bench, with Adam Hanlon not part of the match-day squad.
There was precious little in the way of decent chances created in the opening half, but the best of them undoubtedly fell to Wexford. Indeed, the only time Doyle had to exert himself early on was in the tenth minute when he made an easy save from a speculative left-footed strike from Ramblers front man Dean Swords.
Shane Dunne had collected an early yellow card, and this led to a farcical situation on the halfhour mark when Thomas Croke was also booked. Sub-standard referee Marc Lynch clearly mistook the Waterford man for his midfield colleague and brandished a red card after the yellow before quickly realising the error of his ways with some help from the Wexford contingent.
The most clearcut opening had been presented to Croke in the 25th minute when debutant Liam Donnelly hung a cross from the right to the near post. Croke, back with the Ferrycarrig Park crew for a second spell, perhaps had more time than he realised and could have taken an extra touch to bring the ball under control, but he opted to hit it first-time and didn’t trouble netminder Paul Hunt.
Croke had headed a Ricky Fox delivery over seven minutes earlier, while there was an amusing incident in between when ex-Curracloe and Drogheda man Donnelly made a strong run down the middle, only to lose balance and drive his shot into the mobile chip van located to the left of goal; thankfully he avoided the deep fat fryer!
A Shane Dunne free-kick was flicked into the path of centre-half Ross Kenny in the 42nd minute, but goalkeeper Hunt advanced smartly to narrow the angle and the ball ended up over the bar.
Ramblers did threaten more just before half-time, creating a couple of decent openings. A low cross by Ross Mann was knocked by Kenny into the path of Shane Lowth who shot to the left and wide, while their second corner, taken by Anthony O’Donnell to the far post, was met on the volley by Stephen Christopher but struck a body in the box and the danger was averted.
Wexford again looked the more menacing side on the re-start as Craig Wall set up a couple of chances for Craig Hayes and Seán Hurley who couldn’t capitalise.
However, the visitors suffered a big blow in the 53rd minute after Ricky Fox took one touch too many and then fouled Stephen Christopher in a central position after losing control of the ball.
Dean Swords stepped up to the free-kick 25 yards out and curled it beautifully with his left boot. Graham Doyle dived low to his left but couldn’t keep it out as it was struck sweetly into the corner for a superb lead goal.
Wexford continued to try hard, but time and again the head of Ramblers centre-half Ben O’Riordan came to his side’s rescue, with his positional sense making up for some wayward sliced clearances by defensive colleague Anthony O’Donnell.
A low Liam Donnelly cross from a Craig Wall pass was nearly turned into his own net by full-back Shane Lowth, while a couple of Shane Dunne free-kicks were safely gathered by netminder Paul Hunt in a spell when Ramblers captain Christopher McCarthy was booked for a foul on the Wexford midfielder.
The danger now was that the visitors might be caught on the break as they pushed forward in search of the equaliser after Mark Slater replaced Liam Donnelly on the right wing, and Lee Duffy was added to the attack.
Craig Hayes cleared the first of four second-half Ramblers corners (Wexford had three), while Ross Kenny and Andrew O’Connor were yellow carded for putting an abrupt stop to a couple of breakaways.
Anthony O’Donnell headed wide from a Jason Abbott corner in the 78th minute, while a back-pedalling Graham Doyle did well to get a hand to a free-kick from the latter and divert it over the byline, with the resultant set-piece on the left driven wide.
It was Wexford’s turn to break in the 84th minute after a Ramblers slip, with Craig Wall and Craig Hayes combining before Lee Duffy fired high and over the bar.
A probing long ball by Seán Hurley was booted clear by goalkeeper Paul Hunt, and it was looking like time might beat Wexford before the second of three late corners led to that equaliser.
It came following a delay when Ramblers captain McCarthy played the old soldier and took his time to leave the field with an injury, with home manager Stephen Henderson irate afterwards as he felt Wexford should have given the ball back to their opponents who had knocked it out for a throw.
The visitors pressed for the winner in the four extra minutes, with a foul on Hayes leading to a free-kick from Dunne which Hunt fisted out for a corner. Andrew O’Connor swung that in from the right but a free was awarded to Ramblers who undoubtedly felt they had been robbed of the three points on offer given the lateness of that leveller.
In contrast, Wexford should take considerable heart from this performance as they prepare to welcome Athlone Town to Ferrycarrig Park for their first home game this coming Friday at 8 p.m.
Wexford F.C.: Graham Doyle (capt.); Ricky Fox, Owen McCormack, Ross Kenny, Andrew O’Connor; Thomas Croke, Shane Dunne, Craig Wall; Liam Donnelly, Seán Hurley; Craig Hayes. Subs. - Mark Slater for Donnelly (58), Lee Duffy for Croke (69), also John McKeown, Jamie Fox, Dean George, Conor Sutton, Corey Chambers.
Cobh Ramblers: Paul Hunt; Shane Lowth, Ben O’Riordan, James McSweeney, Anthony O’Donnell; Stephen Christopher, Christopher McCarthy (capt.), Karl Caulfield; Ross Mann, Ian Mylod; Dean Swords. Subs. - Jason Abbott for Christopher (69), Craig Donnellan for McCarthy, inj. (89), also Adam Mylod, Charlie Fleming, Kyle McNamara, Scott McCarthy, Ryan Hogan. Referee: Marc Lynch (Galway). FIRST DIVISION TABLE
P W D L F A Pt UCD 11001 03 Athlone Town 1 1 0 0 1 03 Cobh Rblers 10101 11 Wexford FC 10101 11 Shelbourne 10100 01 Longford Tn 10100 01 Waterford FC 1 0 0 1 0 10 Cabinteely FC 1 0 0 1 0 10