All Ireland Hurling Qualifiers Round 1

Wexford 1-21 Offaly 1-13

By Michael Dwyer at Innovate Wexford Park

Wexford’s quick-fire streak of 1-1 without reply after the restart ensured they eventually shrugged off the challenge offered by Offaly amid blustery conditions at Innovate Wexford Park on Saturday afternoon.

When backed by the wind Wexford pushed ahead in the second half. Inside 90 seconds of the restart, Jack O’Connor blasted a long ball in towards the town-end, which Paul Morris managed to boot to the Offaly net. With the lead in their favour for the second time, they managed to finish with conviction.

Despite enduring a 15-minute scoring lapse in the first-half, Wexford’s attack showed terrific promise. Conor McDonald landed a sterling tally of 11-points (8 frees) while Davidstown-Courtnacuddy attacker David Dunne threatened with speedy advances.

With the typical sea breeze at Innovate Wexford Park blowing at their backs, Offaly started brightly. Conor McDonald drew first blood with a sweet point for the hosts, but his side’s indiscipline was soon punished by Shane Dooley. A trio of shots from the excellent free-taker pushed Offaly ahead by one on 10 minutes.

Wides hampered the Offaly attack though. They accrued seven wides by the quarter-hour mark. Nevertheless, their midfield pairing of Paddy Murphy and Seán Ryan impressed. Aided by their efforts, Seán Ryan, Joe Bergin and Shane Dooley all obliged to score a string of points, which granted Offaly an 18th minute lead of five-points.

Following that, Liam Dunne’s charges began to excel. Indebted to dogged play by Conor McDonald and Lee Chin, David Dunne and Podge Doran struck back with points. A pointed free from Conor McDonald cut the gap back to two on 22 minutes, 0-7 to 0-5.

Seconds later, Diarmuid O’Keefe skipped through the Offaly defence before he was tackled just inside the 13-metre line. However, Mark Fanning’s penalty shot did not result in a goal in spite of pleas that the sliotar had struck the goal’s back stanchion. Wexford continued to challenge the midlanders as they trailed by two at the interval, 0-9 to 0-7.

Wexford found composure shortly after the interval when Paul Morris bagged that crucial goal. It was a blow that stunted the challenge offered by Eamonn Kelly’s men.

With Conor McDonald bossing proceedings, his sublime stroke on 60 minutes sent Wexford into a 1-17 to 0-11 lead. At that stage of the half, Wexford had outscored the visitors by 1-10 to 0-2.

Late on Offaly were reduced to 14 men when David King was sent off. Following this loss, the Faithful County earned a consolation score when Oisín Kelly batted to Mark Fanning’s net.

Scorers for Wexford: C McDonald 0-11 (8fs),  P Doran 0-4, P Morris 1-0, L Chin 0-2 (1f), D O’Keefe 0-2, L McGovern 0-1, D Dunne 0-1.

Scorers for Offaly: S Dooley 0-7 (6fs), O Kelly 1-0, S Kinsella 0-2, S Ryan 0-1, J Bergin 0-1, P Guinan 0-1, P Murphy 0-1.

Wexford: M Fanning, E Moore, M O’Hanlon, J Breen, D O’Keefe, P Foley, E Martin, J O’Connor, E Conroy, L McGovern, L Chin, P Doran, P Morris, C McDonald, D Dunne.

Subs: H Kehoe for E Conroy (54); A Kenny for P Foley (66); C Dunbar for D Dunne (68).

Offaly: J Dempsey, N Wynne, C McDonald, P Rigney, D Mooney, S Gardiner, D King, P Murphy, S Ryan, J Mulrooney, J Bergin, S Kinsella, S Dooley, S Cleary, K Connolly.

Subs: B Conneely for D Mooney (26); E Nolan for S Cleary (29); O Kelly for K Connolly (29); D O’Toole for C McDonald (53); P Guinan for S Dooley (59).

Referee: J Ryan (Tipperary).

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