Yesterday afternoon in Wexford Park, we finally got to see the last remaining quarter final of the Pettitt’s Senior Hurling Wexford Championship…
We witnessed the re-arranged fixture between St Anne’s Rathangan and the Rapparees. Ahead of the clash, we already knew one semi final pairing as St Martins will take on Naomh Eanna. The winners of this quarter-final clash would take on the Shelmaliers in the other semi-final.
This match was meant to take place on the previous Saturday and Monday due a issue with the generator and poor weather conditions on Monday saw the game postponed twice.
The match finally went ahead on Saturday afternoon in Wexford Park.
There was a delay to thrown in due to previous the match Gusserane and Crossabeg going to extra time in the Wexford Senior Football Championship, but third time lucky – the ball was thrown in at 4.30 pm.
St Anne’s most recent match was against Glynn Barntown where the Anne’s won by just a one point margin. St Anne’s were in good form coming into win this game after topping their group winning 4 and only 1 draw. St Annes were strong favourites in this one and most people – including the bookies – were predicting a rather comfortable win for the Annes.
On the other hand, the Rapparees came into this quarter-final clash in dreadful form with 5 defeats out of 5 in the group phase. They managed to get a quarter-final spot after they beat Ourlart The Ballagh in their preliminary qquarter-final to avoid a relegation final.
St Anne’s were out for revenge in this one as they got humiliated in the county final in 2021 by 6-18 to 1-17. It was just three years ago, and a game which is still fresh in the memories of the St Annes players and faithful.
The first half got under way and the Annes were by far the better team in the 1st half as they raced into 0-19 to 0-07 at half time. First half points came from the Diarmuid OʻKeeffe, Liam Óg McGovern Justin Moran, Andrew Moran, Kyle Kennedy, Brian Kavanagh, Cillian Byrne and Liam Rochford.
St Anne’s were well in control at the break. It would take a monumental effort from the Rapparees to get back into this one.
The 2nd half was more of the same as the 1st St Anne’s were by far the more superior team compared to the Rapparees in every department. St Anne’s will take some stopping in this year’s Championship. Rapparees did have a little moment of joy as they got a consolation goal from substitute Nick Doyle, which was a well taken goal too.
It was too little too late though as rhe St Anne’s ran away with this one. It ended up being pretty much a comfortable victory in the end as St Anne’s knock out the Rapparees out of the championship as they progress to the semi-final on a score-line of 0-33 to 1-15 .
It means that the semi-final pairings of the Wexford SHC for 2024 are now confirmed too. St Martins will take on Naomh Eanna and The Shelmaliers will take on St Anne’s.
Wexford Pettitt’s Senior Hurling Championship Quarter Final
Chadwicks Wexford Park
St Anne’s Rathangan vs Rappareees
Saturday 12th of October.
Thrown in 4.30 pm
Referee: Justin Heffernan
Adam Walker
A young Wexford man with an interest in writing and a passion for multiple sports such as GAA, soccer, boxing, and golf.
Jason Redmond
From Gorey, Jason is the owner of Wexford Weekly. He is also a post-primary English and History teacher.