Five talking points following Wexford’s Allianz Hurling League win over Clare

The Wexford Senior hurlers travelled to Ennis to take on Clare on Sunday afternoon…

Wexford defeated Clare on a score-line of 1-17 to 1-23 in Cusack Park. Both Wexford and Clare were looking for their first points of the Allianz Hurling League, but it was Wexford who emerged victorious on the day, despite the bookies having Wexford at 7/1 outsiders heading into the game.

Here, we’ll look at some of the major talking points from the game.

Slow start:

It was far from the ideal start for the Wexford Senior hurlers. Inside the first minute of the game, full-forward Tony Kelly got his hands on the ball after a hand-pass from Mark Rogers and buried the ball to the net. From a Wexford perspective, we were thinking the worst, especially given the fact that Clare’s main players such as Kelly, John Conlan and David Fitzgerald had returned to the starting fifteen for Brian Lohan’s side. After just five minutes, Clare were leading by 1-02 to no score, with the Yellowbellies finding it difficult to stamp their authority on the game. Although Wexford managed to claw their way into the game shortly after – and went in at the break leading by 1-09 to 0-15, Rossiter will not be happy with Wexford’s slow start to the game and it’s something that they will need to address.

Wexford’s goal:

Wexford’s goal against Clare came at a perfect time. Young Wexford attacker, Cian Byrne, picked up the ball near the side-line on the 21. With excellent vision, he was able to pick out Damien Reck who was bursting through with speed in the middle. Reck continued his run, solo’ed through on goal before offloading the ball to his club counterpart, Seamus Casey. On the second attempt, Casey buried the ball past the Clare goalkeeper. Wexford’s goal came with 15 minutes played in the second-half, when the Yellowbelleis were leading by just four points. Wexford’s goal was significant not just for the time that it occurred, but because it was Wexford’s first goal of the Allianz League campaign. When we’re playing in the top tier against the top teams, we need to be scoring goals and creating goal-scoring opportunities. From a Wexford perspective, it was great to see the ball rattling the back of the net, and hopefully, it’s another thing that we will see plenty of as the season progresses.

Key players:

There’s no doubt that both Keith Rossiter and the Wexford Senior hurling team will be delighted with their performance. It was helped by the addition of Lee Chin, who was called in late into the match-day fifteen after returning from holidays in Australia. The addition of Chin to the Wexford team cannot be understated. His physical presence, leadership, and ability to take scores is something that Wexford really lacked in previous games against Cork, Tipperary and Kilkenny. Another player that hurler excellently was Seamus Casey, who finished the game with a personal tally of 1-03, all coming from play. Throughout the game, Casey proved to be a menace in the inside forward line; he made some excellent high-fielded catches, assisted players for points, and was in the right place at the right time for 1-01 of his tally. Other players such as Conor Hearne, Damien Reck, Richie Lawlor, and Cian Byrne all performed well too – and in a team sport, we need a host of big players to stand up and fight. And that’s exactly what happened on Sunday.

Straight red for Byrne:

Another time Wexford had a goal scoring opportunity was when Naomh Eanna club man, Cathal Dunbar, raced through on goal. He passed the ball to ball to Fethard man, Cian Byrne, who was half-blocked on his first opportunity. The ball rebounded back to Byrne – and instinctively, he attempted to ground strike the ball to the net. Unfortunately, he connected straight with the leg of Clare defender, Darragh Lohan. With six minutes remaining on the clock, referee Thomas Gleeson – with the help of his umpires – decided to issue Byrne with a straight red-card. It means that Wexford will be without Cian Byrne for their next clash against Galway in Wexford Park. Even though Lee Chin had returned to the starting fifteen, it was interesting to see that Cian Byrne was still Wexford’s free-taker. With Chin back, and with Casey in good form, one can expect that they will now take over the free-taking duties for their upcoming clash against Galway.

Galway next:

After Wexford’s first Allianz Hurling League win of the season, their attention will now quickly turn to the Galway clash. While it was great to beat the reigning Allianz League and All-Ireland champions, Wexford are still facing a relegation battle and their remaining two games are key should they wish to change that. Their remaining games will be against Galway and Limerick, with the Tribesmen coming to Wexford Park next weekend. Wexford will take on Galway at home on Saturday March 1st. After that, they will enjoy a lengthy break before taking on Limerick away on March 22nd. With Wexford building momentum, a win against Galway at home in front of a packed Wexford Park, is certainly do-able. Wexford’s win against Clare was needed for the county and the fan-base; but if we are to remain in the top-tier, we need more results to go our way.