The Wexford Senior Hurlers were back in action today…
Darragh Egan’s side took on Offaly in St Brendan’s Park, Birr, at 2pm on Sunday.
Wexford went into the game as 1/3 favourites to win the game. At half-time, the score line stands at 1-08 to 0-13 in Wexford’s favour. The Walsh Cup game ended on a score line of 2-14 to 1-20 in favour of the Yellowbellies.
Chin’s instant impact:
After just 30 seconds on the pitch, Lee Chin got the ball in the full-forward position. Through on goal, he never looked like he was going to miss. Although he didn’t strike it cleanly, it went past the Offaly goalkeeper. An important goal which really put Wexford in the driving seat with just ten minutes left. While he did score a crucial goal, the Faythe Harriers club man will be disappointed that he missed two point scoring opportunities from play.
Offaly’s second-half performance:
While they performed well in the first half, Offaly failed to come out of the tracks in the second-half. However, perhaps this was because Wexford did not allow them. Wexford were more tenacious in the second half, hit hard, and were on more second balls. It wasn’t helped after Offaly’s full-back, Ciaran Burke, received a straight red for an off-the-ball striking incident on Ross Banville. Despite a poor start to the first half from Offaly, they did come back into the game during the end of the game which may be somewhat concerning considering Wexford had more experienced heads on the pitch at this time.
The ending full-forward line:
The full-forward line for Wexford didn’t perform to their best, especially in the first-half, as the Offaly full-back line seemed to come out with a lot. It was interesting to see the full-forward line that Wexford finished with. Both Lee Chin and Conor McDonald were placed into the full-forward line at the end, accompanied by Corey Byrne-Dunbar. The ariel threat of McDonald and Chin in the full-forward line was utilised in previous years under Egan and Fitzgerald. Perhaps, it could be utilised again in 2023. McDonald had an excellent chance in the last four minutes of the game; you would have put the house on him to score, but the goalkeeper pulled off an excellent save to deny the Naomh Eanna man.
Stand-out performers:
There were a number of good performances for Wexford, which will surely delight Darragh Egan along with Wexford hurling supporters. Some of the Wexford players that performed well were Richie Lawlor in the first-half, and Liam Ryan in the full-back position. Likewise, Shane Reck performed well in the second-half when he was introduced in the second-half, coming out with a lot of ball from the half-back line and with excellent distribution.
Wexford’s next game:
In Wexford’s next game, they’ll face Kilkenny. The win against Offaly means that it has set up a winner-takes-all final game in Wexford Park against the old-enemy. It means that it’s not a dead-rubber, and instead, it has set up an even-more exciting night on the opening of the new floodlights at Chadwicks Wexford Park on Jan 21st.
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