First-half domination helps to see St Martins through to the Wexford Senior Hurling final

Sunday’s second semi-final saw the clash of Naomh Eanna and St Martins, a repeat of the 2018 Wexford Senior hurling final…

St Martins were out for revenge this time around. Both teams have enjoyed impressive records in this year’s championship so far. For Naomh Eanna, the reigning champions from 2023, they came into this game on the back of a tough encounter in their quarter-final clash with Faythe Harriers. Naomh Eanna had to come from 9 points down to win that game by just one point.

On the other hand, St Martins came into this game after a impressive 1-20 to 0-14 win over Ferns in their quarter-final two weeks ago.

Another game – the other Wexford SHC semi-final – had already been played in Wexford Park and the winners of this game would await St Annes in the final.

Ahead of the game, Naomh Eanna had suffered some injury blows, with midfielder Aodhán Doyle and defender Gary Molloy both ruled out of the clash due to significant injuries. To make matters worse, their goalkeeper – Jack Cushe – was injured in the warm-up of the game and he had to be replaced by Darragh Hughes after just two minutes. Hughes was named in the forwards, but Noamh Eanna brought out substitute Cian Browne, allowing Hughes to go back into the goal.

St Martins were playing with the strong wind advantage in the first half. Just as we saw in the first game, St Martins needed to take advantage of the strong wind and they really did take advantage of the helpful windy conditions.

In the first half, they raced into a 0-16 to 0-02 lead at half time. The wind was so strong that the Naomh Eanna goalkeeper was struggling to hit the ball past his own 45. On one occasion, the goalkeeper pucked out the ball – only to retrieve it himself. Notwithstanding the strong wind, St Martins were well on top in the first half. Jake Firman, Darren Codd, and Rory O’Connor were all playing excellently in the middle-third, while Naomh Eanna struggled to even get the ball past their own midfield line.

Matters became even worse for Naomh Eanna when their corner-back, Cian O’Tuama was forced off with a shoulder injury, being replaced by Tom Stafford. St Martins continued to battle, especially around the middle-third, causing havoc for Naomh Eanna. Naomh Eanna had often tried to work the ball out of the defence, before losing possession, and multiple times this resulted either in a free or a point for St Martins.

It was truly a uphill battle for the reigning County champions in the second half.

Helped by the wind at their backs and with a new lease of life following the half-time team talk, they did threaten a mini comeback at the start of the second half.

They rattled off five answered points to reduce the gap to 9 points.

Despite this, St Martins responded excellently with a Barry OʻConnor goal, which was a killer blow to Naomh Eanna and pretty much ended any hope of a remarkable comeback. The goal itself included great link-up play with the three O’Connors; Rory passed the ball to Jack, who then set-up Barry to finish it low to Darragh Hughes’ net.

Barry O'Connor cuts through a gale force wind to score the goal that proved that adverse weather conditions were not going to stop the Martins on their road to this years Pettitt's Senior Hurling Championship country final. pic.twitter.com/rrS9v8ZQIQ
— Wexford GAA (@OfficialWexGAA) October 20, 2024

From this point, Naomh Eanna only managed to score 3 more points while St Martins got 2 more points of their own.

It was a comfortable win for St Martins in the end and Naomh Eanna’s reign as Wexford Senior County champions is over. Once again, the reigning champions have failed to back it up, highlighting the sheer competitiveness of the Wexford Senior hurling championship. The two-in-a-row has not been achieved since Oulart-The Ballagh’s wins in 2015 and 2016. As for St Martins, they will now progress to the Wexford SHC County final for the first time since 2022, a game which they lost out narrowly to Ferns St Aidans.

St Martins will take on St Anne’s, which will be a repeat of the 2019 final.

Full Time:

St Martins 1-18

Naomh Eanna 0-10

Scorers:

St Martins scores:

Rory O Connor (0-01) (F 0-07) Kyle Firman (0-01) Jake Firman (0-02) Darren Codd (0-01) Joe Barret (0-01) Dylan Byrne (0-01) Barry OʻConnor (1-00) Jack Oʻ Connor (0-03) (F 0-01).

Naomh Eanna scorers:

Connor McDonald (0-01) JJ Twamley (0-01) Jack Cullen (F 0-08)

Referee: Dan Crosby

You can also read Adam Walker’s report from the St Annes vs Shelmaliers Wexford SHC semi-final here.