St Martins crowned Wexford Senior Hurling Champions for 2024

St Martins have been crowned the Wexford Senior hurling champions for 2024…

St Martins defeated St Annes on a score-line of 1-21 to 0-19.

It’s the fifth time in their club’s history that St Martins have won the Wexford Senior hurling championship.

The Martins last won the Wexford SHC back in 2019, defeating St Annes in that game too.

Attacker Rory O’Connor picked up the Man of the Match award on the day. O’Connor was being man-marked by Eoin Ryan for the first-half, before Ryan picked up a yellow card and a switch was made. O’Connor played a pivotal role in Barry O’Connor’s second-half goal as he had hassled the goalkeeper and intercepted him, allowing full-forward Barry – who’s just back from Australia – to finish the ball to the net from the ground.

The teams could not be separated until the 27th minute mark, with the team’s level on 0-06 apiece. However, this was a crucial time for St Martins – and a crucial time in the game. St Martins scored four unanswered points to go down the tunnel leading 0-10 to 0-06 at half-time. St Martins wing-forward Darren Codd was producing the magic in the first-half for St Martins, ticking off three points from play. On the other hand, St Anne’s would have been disappointed with their first half, only scoring 2 from play thanks to Justin Moran and Cillian Byrne along with four Kyle Kennedy frees.

St Martins made another quick start to the second-half, going a further two points ahead with points from Kyle Firman and Rory. To their credit, St Annes under the stewardship of manager David Redmond, didn’t lay down. They teased a comeback and they were never out of the game.

Influential inter-county hurler Dee O’Keeffe, who was largely playing in the sweeper role for St Annes, picked up a heavy injury after he was rushing up the pitch with the ball before receiving a strong hit from full-back Paddy O’Connor on the 65 yard line.

The introduction of Darragh Furlong in the full-forward line was influential for St Annes. There were roars from the crowd for a potential penalty call when he was tackled to the crowd by Paddy O’Connor after a high-ball came in. Furlong later found himself on the score-sheet, picking off a point and setting up another.

Liam Og McGovern found himself on the score-sheet on two occasions, getting the better of a hurl-less Conor Firman at one stage to score an excellent point from the side-line.

The two O’Connor relatives – both Rory and Jack – stepped up when needed in the dying moments of the game too, raising the white flag to see the game out. Jack, raising his hand to the air as the umpire waved the white flag, knew then that they were really in the driving seat and it would take a St Annes miracle to get over the line.

St Annes didn’t die until the final whistle. Barry O’Connor, who returned to the backs along with Rory and other forwards, fouled the onrushing Liam Og McGovern. A 21-yard free was saved from the St Anne’s goalkeeper Andrew Kennedy, before a dropped in ’65 was cleared by the Martins defence. It was then that Justin Heffernan decided to blow the full-time whistle, crowning St Martins the Wexford Senior hurling champions for 2024.

While St Annes will of course be distraught losing two Wexford County Finals to St Martins in recent times, it must be said that the best team won on the day and they will not be bitter about the result. With a youthful team and an excellent set-up, Wexford Senior hurling selector Des Mythen has predicted that they’ll win a championship soon, ending their 24 year drought since they last captured the Wexford SHC title.

St Anne’s Scorers : Kyle Kennedy (F 0-07) Justin Moran (0-01) Cillian Byrne (0-01) Liam Og McGovern(0-02) Liam Rochford (0-03) Mark Furlong (F 0-03) (0-01) Darragh Furlong (0-01).

Wides: 5

St Martin Scorers

Rory O’Connor (F0-07) (0-03) Kyle Firman (0-01) Jack O Connor (F0-01) (0-01) Darren Codd (0-03) Jake Firman (0-01) Conor Firman (0-01) Barry O Connor (1-00) Joe Barret (0-01) Philip Dempsey (0-01) Ben Maddock (0-01)

Wides: 8