Darren Stamp emerged as the Wexford hero as his marvellous injury-time point earned his county the narrowest of victories in a dramatic Leinster under-21 hurling championship semi-final at Kilkenny yesterday evening. Offaly looked to have secured their final spot when corner forward Kevin Kelly goaled in the 59th minute to give his side a 1-13 to 1-10 lead.
But Wexford were not finished and one minute into injury time Paul Carley's goal effort from a 20-metre free for goal rebounded off the crossbar, only for Diarmuid Lyng to crash the loose ball to the net.
Then, from the puck-out, senior star Stamp fired over a magnificent 60-metre winning point.
Wexford had trailed 1-7 to 0-6 at the interval, the goal coming on 29 minutes from Ger Coleman.
Offaly took control during the opening 20 minutes of the second half, firing over six unanswered points to take a 0-12 to 1-7 lead. But then came that dramatic finish.
WEXFORD: M White; R Mallon, N Maguire, R Kirwan, J Kavanagh, B McGee, T Kelly, N Lambert (0-1), D Stamp (0-2), B Lambert (0-4), G Cole- man (1-1), R Barry (0-1), D Lyng (1-2), P Carley, M Jacob. Subs: J O'Connor for Kavanagh, D Mythen for Barry.
FFALY: S O'Connor; K McConville, D Moran, D Minnock; P Molloy, J Brady, S Browne; D Tanner (0-1), J Wynne; M Cordial (0-2), B Murphy, C Gath (0-2); K Kelly (1-0), R Hanniffy (0-2), D Murray (0-5). Sub: B Carroll (0-1) for Wynne.
Referee: P Dunphy (Kilkenny).
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