Rabitte punch puts Wexford in deep slumber

FOR Wexford, sadly, the big sleep continues. They stretched themselves and stirred a little yesterday, but at the end of a sunny afternoon's hurling in Limerick, the hadn't enough trickery or brawn to stop Galway advancing to another league final in two weeks time.

Nobody had to tell Wexford that there would be days like these - their history is littered with them. They began yesterday afternoon game for anything, matching Galway stride for stride and pull for pull. They finished up showing all the nervous ticks and talent for wastefulness that has been their sorry trademark over the barren years. No team's past seems to haunt them as much as Wexford's.

Galway, for their part, had questions asked of themselves as well. Through the first half they struggled for long periods despite getting to the break with a one point advantage. Their half back line went absent without leave for periods and their full backs looked panicky while they were away.

If Galway had a single saviour, when times were hard and scores were tough to come by, it was in the figure of Joe Rabbitte, liberated from the claustrophobic confines of the central corridor and finding space and scores aplenty out on the right wing. He gave young Damien Fitzhenry a rough time yesterday and when the Wexford bench finally swapped Fitzhenry with Larry O'Gorman, a very ironic cheer went up from the Wexford support.

Rabbitte's excellence compensated for deficiencies which Galway may not be able to carry in late summer. Rory McCarthy and Adrian Fenlon made quite an impression at midfield for Wexford, only to find their sweetness wasted on a blunt full forward line. Nigel Shaugnessy, who shipped an daily knock, saw first Larry Murphy and then Martin Storey rampage through his area of operation in the first half. For such a lovely hurler, Shaugnessy sometimes appears to lack the presence for centre back play.

Up front, Galway could find no away into the game for Kevin Broderick until he moved out of the corner altogether. The scores, meanwhile, came via the illustrious Rabbitte and the equally busy Francis Forde.

Galway conceded the first scored of the game to Tommy Kehoe, Indeed, so sweet were the auguries for Wexford that at one stage they had scored two points without striking a single wide. For a side whose wides surplus has been threatened with EC intervention measures in the past, that was quite encouraging.

However, Galway were playing with an economy born of winter confidence and over 80 training sessions devoted to league fare. Sixteen minutes into the half, they led by six points to two and people began to wonder about the strange ennui which had paralysed Offaly sufficiently for Wexford to beat them in the quarter final.

Wexford stood up for themselves, however. Fenlon, with a lovely point, triggered a little rush of scores which brought Wexford back to within a point. More might have been yielded in the 21st minute when Martin Storey's goal attempt was saved wonderfully and Paul Codd smashed the rebound off the crossbar.

Minutes later Galway still led by a point when they won a penalty: Rabbitte lobbed a perceptive pass to Joe Cooney who disappeared earthwards somewhere underneath Declan Stamp. Francis Forde sought to extract the retribution, but Kavanagh made a fine save to leave Wexford, a point behind but in good spirits going into the break.

After half time, however, Galway asserted themselves. In the quarter of an hour after the break, they reeled off seven points to Wexford's two. Wexford lost some of their dominance in the middle of the field as Michael Coleman, in particular, began to open his shoulders.

Up front, the scores refused to come. Just why that is remains something of a mystery. Larry Murphy and Martin Storey are two of the quickest and most direct forwards in the country. Garry Laffan seems just a split second or so away from plundering the odd goal. Eventually, Wexford decided that the experiment of playing Tom Dempsey at corner forward wasn't going to solve the mystery. They moved him out and then called him home to the bench.

Not much came of it. With 10 minutes left, Peter Kelly got under a spiralled Forde pass and flicked it to the net to knock the wind out of Wexford. Five minutes later, Broderick had a shot well saved by Kavanagh who was unfortunate to see Forde sweep the ball past him and into the net. Galway led by 10 points and the minutes were slipping away.

It was more misfortune than Wexford deserved, but in that second half the old failings kept coming back. Their wides tally just made it into double figures, but the key wides came at the wrong time. In the final minutes, Joe Rabbitte added a point for Galway and John O'Connor struck a free to the net for Wexford. By then, most of the 7,570 crowd were worrying about the traffic problems ahead.