The Wexford Senior hurlers travelled to a cold and wet Callan on Saturday afternoon…
Wexford, under their new manager Keith Rossiter, enjoyed a one-point win against neighbours, Kilkenny, in the Walsh Cup semi-final with the score-line reading 2-11 to 0-18.
O’Connor’s display
St Martin’s clubman Jack O’Connor was a man in serious form in the first half of this game. Within the first 11 minutes, O’Connor had slotted over four points from open play. He was, of course, helped by the likes of Cian Byrne, Corey Byrne Dunbar, and Kevin Foley who all assisted O’Connor, throwing out the ball for him to put it between the posts. Although O’Connor did go out of the game in the middle third of the match, he stepped up again to hit another vital score in the second-half to ensure Wexford were maintaining their lead. More crucially, was the fact that he was the person to win a free in the dying moments of the game, giving Wexford some breathing space.
Casey on the frees
With Lee Chin’s absence due to injury, Oylegate-Glenbrien’s Seamus Casey was on free-taking duties. Despite the wet and windy conditions, Casey did not miss any attempts from placed balls. When O’Connor won a free in on the 70th minute mark, Wexford were up by just one point- but the free wasn’t an easy one. Casey was over it, right on the side-line of the 21, but this didn’t faze him whatsoever, and this crucial free put Wexford back ahead by two points. With more contributions from play, Casey could be an option on the frees moving forward and perhaps Rossiter will look at this. With Chin’s absence, it’s likely he’ll maintain his place on the team and on the free-taking duties.
Sending off
Askamore’s Tomás Kinsella was sent off in the second half, receiving a straight-red for what appeared to be a minimal striking action to the Kilkenny player’s faceguard. The linesman did not see it, but the referee discussed the action with his umpire, which then resulted in a red card for the Wexford wing-forward. Despite going down to 14 men, and then going down to 13 men after they received a sin-bin shortly after, Wexford dug deep and seemed to be always in control up until the last five minutes of the game. It was interesting that even though Wexford were up by five points, Kilkenny for large parts of the game didn’t opt to push further up the field to take advantage of this and their wind advantage.
Allowing Kilkenny back
As mentioned, Wexford seemed like they were in control for most of this game, bar the last five minutes. Kilkenny clawed into Wexford’s five point lead, and a beauty of a Billy Ryan goal into the top-corner on the 71st minute mark meant that Wexford were only up by two. Another foul was given away on the 74th minute mark, but crazily, the Kilkenny free-taker Eoin Guilfoyle opted to hit the ball over the bar. Perhaps Guilfoyle believed that there would be another opportunity in play, but the referee blew the whistle after James Lawlor hit the puck out.
The whistle being blown was music to the Wexford supporters’ ears, as one could really see Kilkenny popping up with another score to level the game – or even win the game, despite Wexford’s efforts. Although it’s only the Walsh Cup, Wexford need to get into a habit of not allowing teams to come back into it, especially when they are in the driving seat.
Galway next
There were plenty of positives to take from the game. One of the major positives is that Wexford have a chance of getting their hands on silverware next. After Wexford’s win against Kilkenny, they have now set up a Walsh Cup final clash against Galway after they defeated Dublin today, helped by 0-17 by sharpshooter Evan Niland. It will be a repeat of last year’s Walsh Cup final, a clash which doubled down as the opening round of the Allianz Hurling League and a game that seen Galway claim silverware after defeating the Yellowbellies by eight points in Wexford Park.
Great game today any game to beat Kilkenny is good up Wexford they can beat Galway too