Four Talking Points Following Wexford’s Win Over All-Ireland Champions Limerick

After a dismal display last week in the Walsh Cup final in Croke Park against Dublin, not many would have predicted this result…

On Sunday, Wexford welcomed the reigning All-Ireland Champions, Limerick, to Chadwicks Wexford Park for the opening round of the Allianz National Hurling League.

Quite unexpectedly, it was Wexford and Darragh Egan’s side who came out worthy winners on the day, beating John Kiely’s Limerick side on a score-line of 1-11 to 0-11.

Here, we look at some of the talking points following the game:

Low-Scoring Game:

With both Wexford and Limerick typically, able to rack up big scorelines, not one would have expected this to be such a low-scoring affair. The forage of wides, mis-hits, and balls dropping short did put a damper on this game from a neutral’s perspective.

It was bad for both sides and the scoreline reflects that. It was not helped by the unpredictable wind and the adverse weather conditions, but both sides will know that they will need to

O’Hanlon and Ryan:

Both Liam Ryan and Matt O’Hanlon had the games of their lives in the Park today. Both players hurled exceptionally well and held the defence together. Both played from the front and did not allow their men, Pat Ryan and Aaron Gillane, to get hold of possession. Both were extremely solid in today’s clash.

With Paudie Foley back into the mix and with other key players still to return, some questioned if O’Hanlon would keep his place on the team. However, with performances like that, new manager Darragh Egan could not keep him off it.

Mikie Dwyer goal:

Fethard’s Mikie Dwyer scored the goal for Wexford that sealed the deal. A lot of Limerick supporters were not happy with the officiating leading up to the goal. They have suggested that he took too many steps and that the goal should not have counted.

Despite that, we’ve been on the end of decisions like that before too. Whether it was steps or not, the green flag was raised and it proved crucial to the outcome of the game. It fired Wexford ahead in the dying moments of a low-scoring affair and the Yellowbellies hung on.

Direct ball to Mc:

Some more direct ball into our full-forward line, and specifically, some more direct ball into Conor McDonald could be the difference in these games.

It’s clear that both Wexford and Egan are starting to utilise the Naomh Eanna club-man in the full-forward position. When a high ball is delivered into him, there’s a strong possibility that he’s going to catch it from the sky. Late in the second half, he caught one from the sky on the fourteen-yard line. He missed the bat into the goal, but it was an opportunity created from nothing and it’s not one he’d miss again.

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It’s probably too early to be jumping to conclusions. However, listening to South East Radio on the way home from the game, GAA analysts Tom Dempsey summed it up.

“We’re a lot happier going home this week than we were going home last week,” he said.

And it’s true. While it wasn’t the best performance of all-time, nor was it the most entertaining game that we’ll ever watch, it’s still brilliant to see Wexford responding following their heavy Walsh Cup loss last weekend.

There’s no better way to respond than by beating the All-Ireland Champions on your doorstep in front of a packed Wexford Park.

We’ll take a win against Limerick any day of the week.

All The Scorers:

Wexford: Jack O’Connor 0-5 (0-4 frees); Mikie Dwyer 1-0; Oisin Foley, Connal Flood 0-2 each; Diarmuid O’Keefe, Conor McDonald 0-1 each.

Limerick: Diarmaid Byrnes (0-1 ’65, 0-2 frees), Hegarty 0-3 each; Aaron Gillane (frees) 0-2; Declan Hannon; David Reidy (free), Robbie Hanley 0-1 each.

Featured Image: Maria Nolan

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