IT WASN’T ALL THAT BAD, PAT
AT first glance, a final scoreline is in keeping with expectations and the respective strengths of the starting 15s on show at Parnell Park.
Wexford, Division 1B champions and Leinster finalists last year, travelled up for this Walsh Cup semi-final with close to a Championship hand. Pat Gilroy’s Dublin, by contrast, were in much more experimental mode after already taking on Waterford on Friday night.
So the fact that Wexford had seven points to spare at the end and can look forward to locking horns with Kilkenny in next weekend’s final at Nowlan Park appears straightforward enough.
Except, a second glance tells how the game hinged on the dismissal of Paul Winters in the 47th minute, by which stage the hosts were 0-15 to 0-10 ahead and cruising.
The St Brigid’s player had six points to his name at that stage — five from placed balls — and was such a handful for Liam Ryan that the Wexford full-back was replaced at half-time. By then, Dublin led 0-11 to 0-8. But the fact that the Dublin player picked up a yellow card before the break meant that he was gone after rushing in to a flashpoint early in the second half and picking up a second one.
That changed the pattern of the game in the starkest terms.
Wexford hit 1-10 without reply, the goal coming almost straight away from the lively Cathal Dunbar, as Dublin lost all their shape and momentum, not even registering another score until Fergal Whitely’s point in the fourth minute of injury time.
‘It had a huge influence on the game in January,’ said Gilroy afterwards, nobody arguing with him. ‘You are going to struggle once you go a man down and we had been putting in a seriously intense shift up to that point. It told then, we missed a good goal chance soon after that and it took its toll in the last 15 minutes.’
That goal chance came from returned former All-Star Danny Sutcliffe flashing his shot wide of Mark Fanning’s right-hand post. In a subdued overall performance from someone who has a couple of seasons catching up to do, it was one of a number of moments when he showed his class of old, a point on the run off his stick in the first half a stand-out score.
That Conal Keaney came out of retirement to rejoin the squad and feature against Waterford on Friday night says everything about how Gilroy has wiped the slate clean after the turbulent Ger Cunningham era. In all, he has already used 46 players competitively since taking over.
After bridging the generation gap to turn Kilkenny over in league and championship last year, Wexford manager Davy Fitzgerald certainly wasn’t getting carried away, even if he was pleased with the way his team cut loose with the extra man. Jack Guiney made a big impact off the bench with a couple of booming long-range scores and Conor McDonald, Paul Morris, David Dunne and Dunbar linked up well in attack.
‘We won it by seven points handy enough at the end but I wouldn’t have been happy with the first-half.
‘I thought Dublin were the better team in the first half but that was down to us. We did not fight hard enough. We did not win any 50-50 balls. Dublin were definitely better than us in the first half of that game. We played a bit better in the second half but I think your man being sent-off was the change. That gave us more room.’
While early days, Fitzgerald warned that his team face being relegated back to Division 1B if they start as slowly in the top flight which begins with a home match against Waterford on Sunday week.
‘Playing like that we won’t survive in Division 1. I don’t think we will, that’s being honest. If we have them starts in Division 1 we’ll be out the gap and the lads know that.’ WEXFORD: M Fanning; D Reck, L Ryan (E Moore h-t), S Donohoe (E Molloy 66); A Maddock (G Molloy 70), S Murphy, P Foley; K Foley, Joe O’Connor (Jack Guiney 47); Jack O’Connor (M O Regan 70), C Dunbar (L Rochford 72), A Nolan; P Morris (J Firman 65), D Dunne, C McDonald (C Flood 70). Scorers: P Morris 0-6 (4fs), C Dunbar 1-1, P Foley 0-3 (1f, 1 65), J Guiney 0-3 (1f), K Foley 0-3, D Dunne, C McDonald 0-2 each Yellow card: L Ryan 14, E Molloy 68 Wides: 5 (5)
DUBLIN: A Nolan; P Smyth, B O’Carroll, C Hendricken; S Barrett (C McBride 22), D Kelly, C Crummey; J McCaffrey (J Madden 64), T Connolly (R Mahon 61); D Sutcliffe (E Dillon 57), F Whitely, P Crummey (D Gray 27); D Burke (S O Riain 66), P Winters, A Moore (J Hetherton).
Scorers: P Winters 0-6 (5fs), D Burke 0-4 (4fs), F Whitely 0-3, D Sutcliffe, C McBride, J McCaffrey 0-1 each Yellow card: P Winters 31, 47, F Whitely 47, P Smyth 61, J Madden 65, C Ryan 68, J Hetherton 68.
Red card: P Winters 47 Wides: 4 (4)
Referee: G Quilty (Kilkenny).