The Wexford Senior hurlers bowed out of the Leinster Championship this afternoon after they lost to Kilkenny by the bare minimum in Nowlan Park…
A dark cloud loomed over Nowlan Park at the start of the game and throughout the first half, but that didn’t dampen Wexford’s mood who, at one stage, led the game by five points. Wexford went in at half-time, leading by two points. Despite a late surge, time wasn’t on the essence and Wexford left it too late, with Kilkenny winning the game on a score-line of 1-24 to 2-20 to advance into the 2024 Leinster Final where they will meet Dublin.
TJ’s penalty:
One of the biggest talking points was the referee’s decision to award a penalty to Kilkenny on the 51st minute mark. Kilkenny’s talisman, TJ Reid, stepped up to take the penalty and buried it into Mark Fanning’s net. But the talking point related to the fact that a penalty was awarded in the first place. Replays of the decision illustrated that the Kilkenny player was fouled outside the box, so it shouldn’t have been a penalty. Three Wexford players were surrounding the Kilkenny attacker at the time. It couldn’t have been a ‘last-man-back penalty’ as no black card was awarded.
It was a huge turning point in the game, putting Kilkenny up by six points after the green flag was raised. It led to former Wexford hurler Diarmuid Lyng stating that it was “the worst decision I’ve seen in the flesh in a long time.. Kilkenny penalty was at least five yards outside the box,” while sports publisher, Balls.ie, led their post-match coverage with the headline “Crazy Kilkenny Penalty Decision Costs Wexford Potential Leinster Final Spot.” Although it can be easy to make excuses, the referee’s decision no doubt had a huge influence on the game and was a decision that incensed the travelling Wexford supporters.
2nd half – first 20 minutes:
Although Wexford performed quite well in the first half and in the final quarter of the game, the first 20 minutes of the second half period was where the game was lost. It wasn’t helped by their ill-discipline at the back. However, perhaps the ill-discipline could be traced to the forwards too as the Wexford backs were under heavy pressure during this period. The ball couldn’t stick up front, especially in the wing-forward line in that period, with Kilkenny appearing to win most – if not all – battles on the field during this period. Wexford went in at the break leading 1-11 to 0-12, but Wexford didn’t really come out in the first 20 minutes of that the second half. After 55 minutes, with 20 minutes played in the second half, Wexford only hit 3 points to Kilkenny’s 1-08, with the score-board then reading Wexford 1-14 Kilkenny 1-20.
Mac & Byrne scoring threats:
It seems that Conor McDonald is back to his best. Today, he scored another 1-02 with all scores coming from play. After a brilliant catch from a long Damien Reck ball into the full-forward line on the 20th minute mark, the Naomh Eanna clubman took his goal excellently and it was real vintage Mac, much to the delight of some supporters in attendance who were delighted to win their ‘Mac first goal scorer’ bet.
Another scoring threat was corner-forward Cian Byrne. Although he was being man-marked by Mikey Butler, one of the best defenders in the game, Byrne came out with a personal tally of 1-03 from play, scoring a crucial goal into the O’Loughlin Gaels end, sparking hope for a Wexford revival. Unfortunately, Wexford needed to get more out of Rory O’Connor and Lee Chin, who seemed to be firing off all cylinders in their previous games, but didn’t bring those similar standards today.
Season’s not over:
Although Wexford’s Leinster Championship hopes are gone for another year, the dream of All-Ireland glory remains alive. Wexford have finished third place in their Leinster Championship group. Kilkenny and Dublin will advance to the Leinster final, Wexford are third, while Galway are out. Wexford have a second chance. They’ll take on the the runner-up finalists of the Joe McDonagh Cup in the preliminary All-Ireland quarter-final, either Laois or Offaly. Should Wexford beat the Joe McDonagh runner-up finalists, they will advance to take on the runners up of the Munster Championship Final, either Clare or Limerick.
Jason Redmond
From Gorey, Jason is the owner of Wexford Weekly. He is also a post-primary English and History teacher.
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