Wexford ease into last eight
First win of year for young guns when it mattered most
THE WEXFORD Under-21 footballers chose the best possible time to record their first win of the season when they breezed past Carlow with a commanding display in this Eirgrid Leinster championship opening round clash under the Netwatch Cullen Park floodlights on a rain-sodden Wednesday night.
It was hard to know what to expect from the visitors given their zero from four record in the Peter McNulty tournament. And while acknowleding that experimentation in that competition often leads to unexpected results, the lack of success wouldn’t have done a great deal for the players’ confidence.
Any self-doubt was non-existent when it mattered most though, as a well-drilled Wexford side eased through this admittedly weak challenge with the minimum of fuss and a good deal of credit.
It goes without saying that Offaly will be a tougher proposition in the quarter-final in Gracefield tomorrow (Wednesday), but the Slaneysiders should benefit from having this game under their belts.
The most notable aspect of the half-time score, a 0-10 to 0-5 lead for Wexford, was that nine of the points had come from play whereas the entire Carlow tally arrived from frees.
By game’s end the victors had amassed an impressive 1-16 from flowing attacking moves, with just two points of their tally bagged from placed balls, courtesy of full-forward Tom Byrne.
Wexford moved the ball swiftly from defence to attack, with Senior newcomer James Stafford filling his by-now familiar role as he dropped back as a linkman.
And with right half-forward Jake Firman also performing a similar-type function, there was plenty of space up front for quick, accurate passes to be sprayed into the other four starting attackers, all of whom got on the scoresheet along with a midfielder, both wing-backs, and a substitute.
Carlow did lead twice in the early stages, following pointed frees from Shane O’Neill and Seán Bambrick, with Niall Hughes opening Wexford’s account from a Tom Byrne pass in between.
A move started deep in defence in the sixth minute ended with Paddy Devereux picking out Mikie Dwyer to kick the second leveller, and a vastly superior Wexford gradually eased well clear.
Ian Carty cut in from the left to grab a fine individual point before Dwyer and Tom Byrne - a drive into the side-netting - registered the first two of the eventual winners’ seven wides (Carlow had five).
A second Carty point, from a Dwyer pass, made it 0-4 to 0-2 in the twelfth minute, with Mark Rossiter then doing well to retrieve a Byrne drive into the clouds and hooking it over the bar with a high kick under pressure.
A second converted Shane O’Neill free kept Carlow in the hunt, but the Wexford response was emphatic.
Tom Byrne was involved twice in a move that also featured James Stafford and Jake Firman, with Mikie Dwyer supplying the finishing touch for a 0-6 to 0-3 lead in the 21st minute.
The deadly-accurate Ian Carty then bounced off a tackle and slotted over his third from a Stafford pass, before wing-back Conor Firman cut inside after being fed by his first cousin, Jake, and split the posts with his left boot (0-8 to 0-3).
That five-point gap remained at half-time, with Shane O’Neill knocking over two Carlow frees on either side of further Wexford points from Mark Rossiter (a stinging drive which just cleared the crossbar from a Jake Firman set-up), and a Tom Byrne free after the Kilmore targetman was fouled.
Carlow finally notched their first point from play 34 seconds into the new half from full-forward O’Neill, but it was a false dawn.
A good long ball by Jake Firman was won and converted by Tom Byrne who quickly added another point despite an initial fumble in the lead-up.
O’Neill (free) saw his sixth and final point cancelled by wing-back Daire Barden who received the last pass from Ian Carty after yet another flowing move in the 41st minute (0-13 to 0-7).
A low cross by Mikie Dwyer was gathered at the far post and fisted over by Niall Hughes, while Carty kicked his fourth point after intercepting a Carlow line ball near the end of the third quarter.
Hughes claimed the game’s only mark before the arrival of the goal which was fitting reward for Wexford’s clear superiority.
A Matt Doyle kick-out after a Carlow wide was won by Jake Firman who popped a pass to midfielder Paddy Devereux. He surged towards the scoreboard end before picking out Mikie Dwyer who shimmied inside a wouldbe tackler and planted the ball past Ciarán Byrne (1-15 to 0-7).
Wexford were in the comfortable position of being able to make substitutions with the outcome in the bag, and it was notable that the first two to depart were Jake Firman and James Stafford, clearly with a view to affording both some rest ahead of the Senior clash with Waterford four days later.
Darren Lunney kicked the last Carlow point, and just their second from play, from a Shane O’Neill pass in the 55th minute, but they lost centre-forward Jamie Clarke to a double yellow card less than a minute later.
Darragh Pepper proved a lively late substitute for the winners, kicking two points from Mikie Dwyer passes with a wide thrown in too in between for good measure.
The second point from a free was earned and converted by Tom Byrne, on an evening when the Wexford defence wasn’t tested to any degree. Captain Naomhan Rossiter was relieved of marking duties for the most part as James Stafford’s presence left the victors with an extra body in that department of the field.
There was an odd occurrence late on when substitute Dillon Redmond was black carded less than five minutes after his arrival. Glen Malone was preparing to come on as the sixth and final substitute but didn’t actually enter the field after consulation with the referee and Wexford officials, for reasons that weren’t clear from my vantage point.
It meant that the team prepared by Seamus McEnaney and David Murphy played out the four added minutes with 14 players, and it transpired afterwards that the referee had incorrectly informed Wexford that they had already used their full complement of substitutes.
He apologised for his error, and luckily for him it made no difference given the big gap between the teams.
For the record though, the unfortunate Glen Malone didn’t make an appearance as a result even though the national newspapers stated otherwise.
Wexford: Matt Doyle (Glynn-Barntown); Ronan Devereux (Crossabeg-Ballymurn), Aaron Murphy (Shelmaliers), Seán Barden (Adamstown); Conor Firman (St. Martin’s, 0-1), Naomhan Rossiter (St. Mary’s, Rosslare, capt.), Daire Barden (Fethard, 0-1); Niall Hughes (Kilanerin, 0-2), Paddy Devereux (Crossabeg-Ballymurn); Jake Firman (St. Martin’s), Ian Carty (Taghmon-Camross, 0-4), Mark Rossiter (Gusserane, 0-2); Mikie Dwyer (Fethard, 1-2), Tom Byrne (Kilmore, 0-4, 2 frees), James Stafford (Glynn-Barntown). Subs. - Daire Bolger (Rathgarogue-Cushinstown) for J. Firman (48), Martin O’Connor (HWH-Bunclody) for Stafford (53), Dillon Redmond (Starlights) for Murphy (55), Darragh Pepper (Starlights, 0-2) for C. Firman (56), John Roche (Gusserane) for Hughes (58).
Carlow: Ciarán Byrne; Conor O’Doherty, John Murphy, Niall Lowry; Darren Crooks, Cathal Gaffney, Jack Brennan; Ian Atkinson (capt.), Peter Hennessy; Cathal Bailey, Jamie Clarke, Seán Bambrick (0-1 free); Darren Lunney (0-1), Shane O’Neill (0-6, 5 frees), Donal Smithers. Subs. - Conor Foley for Atkinson (39), Colm Byrne for Bailey (43), Conor Reynolds for Brennan (50), Conor McGrath for Crooks, inj. (53), Mark Lawlor for Hennessy (59).
Referee: Chris Dwyer (Offaly).