LEINSTER SHC SEMI FINAL: Wexford 2-13 Dublin 0-19: A YEAR ago in Nowlan Park, Nicky Lambert bent over a long-range free, lifted it and struck it perfectly to put Dublin out of the Leinster senior hurling championship.
On Saturday for Dublin supporters there was a chilling sense of déjà vu as Lambert's St Martin's team-mate Diarmuid Lyng stood over a free from slightly longer range knowing a score would bounce the Dubs out again.
The free dropped short and Dublin and Wexford get to re-enact this Leinster semi-final next Sunday in Croke Park as part of a double bill with football.
On Saturday when the dust had settled on a game that generated more excitement than quality either side could claim to have the momentum necessary to take a replay and either side could point to problems which require urgent attention.
The return of Dublin hurling to Croke Park represents a modest-enough return on the immense expectation that followed this team to Kilkenny on Saturday.
Nobody expects an All-Ireland in September but there is a hunger to see Dublin validate their own underage revolution by beating a top-tier Leinster county in championship hurling for a change.
In the 47 years since Dublin last contested an All-Ireland final the county has beaten Wexford just once in championship. The pressures are just as great down Wexico way. In this, the year the county suffered the ignominy of relegation, the thought of a provincial semi-final exit at the hands of the Dubs was intolerable.
Little surprise then that both teams played more as if they were afraid to lose than confident of winning.
Dublin started off confidently but were resourceful in finding ways to keep Wexford interested. In the first 10 minutes as Dublin ran in three fine points and gave the first hints of David O'Callaghan's sublime excellence, which would eventually yield six points from play, they also conceded two goals through alarming fissures down the centre of their defence.
The first from the championship debutant Stephen Banville was an indication of the problems his bulk would cause Stephen Hiney under a dropping ball for a lot of the game.
The second, a quicksilver dart and inventive finish from Eoin Quigley, left no less a player than Ronan Fallon chasing shadows.
And yet Wexford's ineptitude in other areas during that first half was breathtaking. Gizzy Lyng's free in injury time before the break was the lone point they mustered in the first half. And the sides went in for their tea and oranges with the scoreboard flashing the rather odd scoreline of Dublin 0-11, Wexford 2-1. Dublin had finished with a string of unanswered points and looked at that stage as if they should have been home and hosed.
Dublin's midfield dominance was built on a return to form of John McCaffrey and the perceptive passing of Simon Lambert.
Lambert, who could not get a starting spot on Ballyboden's county-winning side last winter, has made the breakthrough in some style and his ability to put low ball out to the corners was critical in a first half where O'Callaghan and Ross O'Carroll made merry. Both players finished the half with three fine points from play.
Otherwise the first half was an orgy of missing. Wexford had 10 wides, and if Dublin only had nine they could claim that theirs were more spectacular. A shot from James Burke drew gasps as it whistled wide. A miss from John Kelly when he opted to kick with only Damien Fitzhenry to beat drew even more audible surprise.
The Wexford dressingroom team-talk at half-time promised to be lively. Duly Wexford woke up and some of the old passion and skill materialised in the second half. Rory Jacob's early point was a harbinger or better things to come from the captain, and Stephen Doyle's arrival boded well. With Dublin busily running up the wides tally the second half was a headlong race to the finish.
Both sides sprang leaks and made running repairs. Little patches of brilliance broke out like scatterings of sunshine on a grey day. O'Callaghan's late free edged Dublin in front again but Quigley's injury-time point restored Wexford to parity. Opportunity just kept on knocking for whichever side was willing to answer the door but both were so busy guarding against the calamity of defeat they neglected to go and win it. All back to business next Sunday.
DUBLIN: G Maguire; N Corcoran, S Hiney, T Brady; M Carton, R Fallon, J Boland; J McCaffrey (0-2, one sideline), S Lambert (0-1); J Burke (0-1), D O'Dwyer (0-1), K Flynn (0-1); D O'Callaghan (0-9, three frees), J Kelly, R O'Carroll (0-4). Subs: P Ryan for Kelly (40 mins); D Curtin for Flynn (54 mins); P Kelly for Lambert (63 mins); D Qualter for Burke (68 mins).
WEXFORD: D Fitzhenry; M Travers, K Rossiter, P Roche; M Jacob, D O'Connor, D Stamp; B O'Leary, C Farrell; PJ Nolan, E Quigley (1-2), D Lyng (0-5, four frees); D Redmond (0-1), S Banville (1-0), R Jacob (0-3). Subs: S Doyle (0-2)for Farrell (39 mins); M Doyle for O'Leary (49 mins); J Tonks for Roche (57 mins); T Dwyer for Nolan (69 mins).
Referee: S Roche(Tipperary).
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