Wexford start their Oscar Traynor campaign in impressive fashion

Kilkenny 1 – 4 Wexford

Wexford, who are reigning All-Ireland champions, started their Oscar Traynor campaign in impressive fashion against Kilkenny at Evergreen Park…

It was an even start to the game with both sides battling hard to get on top. Wexford took the lead on 10 minutes through Ivan Meegan. A long ball was flicked on and Ivan done extremely well to bend his run and stay onside as he raced clear, finishing cleanly past the keeper.

Kilkenny started to grow into the game following the Wexford goal. On 20 minutes, a long throw into the Wexford box caused havoc and there was a goalmouth scramble that ended in a corner. From the resulting corner Kilkenny got their equaliser. Mikey Drennan whipped an excellent ball in that was met Darragh Kelly who powered a header home. Kilkenny were the better side for the following 10 minutes and had two decent chances through Emmet Nugent but he could not find the back of the net.

Wexford edged back in front from a corner of their own when Ian Sinnott headed in Ivan Meegan’s delivery. Wexford had a good chance before halftime to extend their lead. Ivan dinked a delightful ball over the top for Ryan Busher to run to and his cross was stopped by a last ditch tackle to take it off the toe of Raphael Abidoye.

The second half started with Wexford well on top. Ivan Meegan had a strike whistle just past the post right after the break. Wexford had another two chances to make it three. Borowiec pinched the ball in midfield and rolled it to Alan Rhodes who in turn played a great ball to release the ever willing runner Ethan Vickers down the left channel and Vickers’ cross was met by the onrushing Ryan Busher who’d strike unfortunately hit the keeper.

The next opportunity also came down the left and involved Vickers and Borowiec as Borowiec played a neat one-two with Vickers and raced clear but his effort from a tight angle was stopped by the keeper. Wexford finally got their third and breathing room through Borowiec. Ivan Meegan impressively held off Mikey Drennan in midfield and laid the ball to Vickers who produced a fantastic pass to release Borowiec in behind and he made no mistake sliding his effort past the keeper.

Wexford added some gloss to the scoreline through Darragh Harris as Ivan Meegan got himself another assist by playing the Enniscorthy man in behind and he calmly finished past the keeper at the near post.

It was a great opening performance by the Wexford men with many standout performances. Alan Rhodes was excellent in midfield, Reece Murphy was commanding at centre half, while Ethan Vickers showed great energy and some nice passes.

But the man of the match for me was Ivan Meegan who was outstanding and produced some real moments of quality.