Freewheeling Forde a model of leadership

SFC Qualifier Round Two/ Wexford 2-14; Offaly 0-15: An evening of celebration for Wexford with maestro Mattie Forde doing the honours in superstar fashion.

The Wexford hurlers, fresh from their Leinster triumph, did not intend to crash the party but they were welcome and honoured guests, holding the massive Bob O'Keeffe trophy aloft and thereby causing a joyful invasion of the pitch during the interval.

Wexford Park had never seen such huge support for the county's footballers, all dual supporters among the 10,102 crowd. The pitch was thronged at the break, jubilation unconfined and a rare chance to touch the hurling trophy the common aim.

Earlier complaints about the €20 admission price to the packed stand were forgotten. The comforting thought too was that by this time the gutsy footballers had edged significantly towards a surprise victory on the back of Mattie Forde's first goal, in the 31st minute.

That score had given the home side the lead for the first time in an end-to-end match of relentless energy.

Although the unassuming Forde would be slow to agree, he is a special kind of captain, one who carried his team on his shoulders. A personal tally here of 2-10 (two points off frees) was a follow-on to the 24-year-old's eight goals and 36 points amassed in the league and an average of eight points per match in the championship before Saturday. Surely the stuff of which All-Stars are made.

The Kilanerin wizard, whose brother Pat leads the attack, said: "We were responding to the huge support in the crowd and to those critics who didn't give us much of a chance."

"His two goals were crucial," admitted Offaly manager Gerry Fahy ruefully.

Forde's first goal came when he outjumped the defence to punch the ball to the net a few minutes before half-time.

Some 12 minutes from time he finished a Darren Browne pass to the net for the second, which was momentarily disputed before the referee's mind was made up by the umpire, who confirmed it was not a square ball.

After that second goal Offaly's confidence was notably shaken, as illustrated when James Coughlan almost hit a corner flag with a free he would earlier have pointed blindfold.

Offaly's attack leader, Pascal Kellaghan, was also feeling the strain and put in an illegal tackle in utter frustration for a second yellow card, though his dismissal in the dying minutes had no real bearing on the result.

But Offaly supporters will argue that their side's 11 second-half wides against one for Wexford had a huge bearing, not to mention John Cooper's spectacular saves from James Coughlan's two goal-worthy shots in the first half.

A delighted Pat Roe, the Wexford manager, insisted his team displayed real character in getting back into the match after a sluggish start that saw them trail 0-4 to 0-8 after 20 minutes.

The match began to swing Wexford's way when central defenders Philip Wallace and David Murphy tightened up.

Paddy Colfer and Willie Carley gained an edge over an erratic Offaly midfield pairing of Ciarán McManus and James Grennan, the former having moved from the left flank of attack.

Offaly's top scorer, James Coughlan, was marked out of it by astute switching in the Wexford defence. But Offaly generally seemed capable of swinging the issue around and were never found wanting in resilience.

David Fogarty stretched Wexford's interval lead, 1-9 to 0-9, with an early second-half point, followed by a Jason Lawlor wide, their only miss of the second half. But Offaly responded with two points from James Coughlan and another from Kellaghan to leave only a point between the sides.

A determined run by corner back Shane Sullivan, who pointed, saw Offaly draw level by the 19th minute of the half.

Game on.

The clever and varied play of Redmond Barry and Fogarty on the flanks of the Wexford attack, the fine distribution by Browne and the flawless work of Mattie Forde ultimately waved the home side through for a meeting with Derry next weekend.

Wexford, to the delight of their supporters, played a mixture of long and short ball sufficiently well for sustained periods to deserve their win.

WEXFORD: J Cooper; C Morris, P Wallace, N Murphy; D Breen, D Murphy, L O'Brien; P Colfer, W Carley (0-1); R Barry (0-1), P Forde, D Fogarty (0-1); J Lawlor (0-1), D Browne, M Forde (2-10, 0-2 frees). Subs: D Foran for Browne (60 mins), P Curtis for L O'Brien (63 mins), R Hassey for Carley (65 mins).

OFFALY: P Kelly; S Sullivan (0-1), C Evans, S Brady; B Mooney, C Daly, K Slattery; M Daly (0-1), J Grennan (0-1); N McNamee, P Kellaghan (0-1), C McManus; J Coughlan (0-7, two frees), N Coughlan (0-1), J Reynolds (0-1). Subs: B Malone for C Daly (31 mins), R Malone for Reynolds (50 mins), C Quinn (0-2) for M Daly (57 mins).

Referee: A Mangan (Kerry).