Useful test for Murphy’s men
Wicklow lose out to Royals
WICKLOW MEATH 3-14 2-20
WICKLOW Senior hurling manager Seamus Murphy will take plenty of positives and a handful of negatives from his side’s battle with Meath in Bray on Sunday morning last as the Garden County squad continue their preparations for the season ahead in 2018.
The three-point defeat to the Royals won’t bother the Wicklow boss in the slightest, although a win would taste better than a defeat in any contest but, nevertheless, what is more important to Murphy, Michael Neary and selectors Michael Anthony O’Neill and Timmy Collins is the performance of their charges on a bitterly cold December morning in a game where there was plenty of decent hurling on display despite the date and conditions.
As expected, it was fairly experimental outfit that took to the field. Murphy handed starting jerseys to Daire Maloney, Tiernan Mellon and Seanie Germaine along with the more regular starters such as Martin O’Brien, Gary Byrne, Padraig Doyle and ace attacker Andy O’Brien to name but a few.
The captaincy of the Wicklow hurlers has been handed to fullback Warren Kavanagh and this is an excellent choice by the team management. Kavanagh is coming to the end of a dream year where he has dominated the game of hurling in this county and leadership seems to be a quality that flows easily from the Glenealy stalwart.
One thing that hasn’t changed in the down time of the county team is the genius of Andy O’Brien. He harvested 3-08 in this game and looked hungry for possession and more than capable of tormenting a defence that might give him a sniff of a ball.
Something that was pleasing to the eye for some of this game was the showing from Seanie Germaine. The Baltinglass native and Kiltegan hurler looks to have a real eye for the posts and an unselfish quality that could well see him play a big role in 2018.
A mistake from Meath keeper Paul Fagan allowed Andy O’Brien rifle home to the back of the net with six minutes on the clock and the score at 0-01 to 0-01 with Tiernan Mellon grabbing Wicklow’s opener after good work from Padraig Doyle and Eoin McCormack.
120 seconds after his first goal, Andy O’Brien had Paul Fagan retrieving the ball from the back of his goals again when he caught superbly from an Enda Donohue free from way out the field, turned and walloped home, 2-01 to 0-01 after eight minutes.
Meath recovered well from O’Brien’s carnage and had it at 2-02 to 0-04 after 16 minutes, Andy grabbing the other Wicklow point.
The Royals, under the watchful eye of Kilkenny’s Martin Comerford, then started to profit from Wicklow errors and sloppy play and had tagged it back to 2-07 to 0-10 at the break, Wicklow’s points from Andy from a free, another from play after superb thieving from Germaine, O’Brien from a 65, Padraig Doyle from distance and a fine Andy point before the break after he collected a wicked groundstroke from Gary Byrne from inside his own half.
With 15 gone in the second half, things were still looking very good for Wicklow. Andy O’Brien had just nabbed his hat-trick with a beautiful flick past Fagan after a Gerry Connors sideline landed in front of him and the score read Wicklow 3-08, Meath 0-14.
But from here things began to go awry. As happens in these games, a raft of changes was made with fresh legs in the form of Chris Kavanagh, Drew Brennan, Jonathan Tallon, Luke Evans and Peter Keane coming in for Tiernan Mellon, Eoin McCormack, Enda Donohue, Gerry Connors and Daire Maloney and such dramatic shifting of bodies can sometimes upset the rhythm of a team.
Meath began to dominate in sectors for the remainder of the game, bagging 2-06 to Wicklow’s 0-06, but Seamus Murphy will not be too concerned at this late surge from the Royals.
Wicklow looked very decent at times and will take plenty of positives from the encounter into their Christmas break.
– Wicklow: Andy O’Brien 3-08 (2f, 1 65), Seanie Germaine 0-02, Tiernan Mellon 0-01, Padraig Doyle 0-01, Drew Brennan 0-01, Ronan Keddy 0-01.
Meath: James Toher0-08 (3f), Michael Cullen 1-01, Josh Wall 1-00, Jack Walsh 0-03, Anthony Healey 0-02, Keith Keoghegan 0-02, Eoin Marsh 0-02, Adam Gannon 0-01, Michael O’Grady 0-01.
Wicklow: Bob Fitzgerald; Daire Maloney, Warren Kavanagh, Martin O’Brien; Gary Byrne, John Henderson, Enda Donohue; George O’Brien, Ronan Keddy; Eoin McCormack, Gerry Connors, Padraig Doyle; Tiernan Mellon, Andy O’Brien, Seanie Germaine. Subs: Chris Kavanagh for E McCormack, Drew Brennan for T Mellon, Jonathan Tallon for G Connors, Peter Keane for D Maloney, Luke Evans for P Doyle.
Meath: Paul Fagan; Sean Geraghty, Shane Brennan, John McCluskey; Niall Weir, Damien Healey, Eoin Marsh; Sean Quigley, Keith Keoghegan; James Toher, Colm O Mealoid, Jack Walsh; Michael O’Grady, Peter Farrell, Conor Kearney. Subs: Michael Cullen, Anthony Healey, Adam Gannon.
Scorers