Leinster SHC: Wexford 0-22 Dublin 2-21
An honest day’s work for Dublin, who led pretty much entirely from flag fall and can probably be forgiven for idling in front near the end. They were 11 points up on the hour mark and though Wexford ate into that lead in a frantic closing chapter, the result was never really in doubt. Dublin have only lost once in six matches at Wexford Park since 2013. This place clearly holds no fears for them.
It was one of those days where Wexford extended far too much of their native hospitality to the visitors. A strong breeze blew straight down the ground, meaning the one thing you couldn’t do playing against it was gift the opposition a goal. Wexford handed Dublin two of them in the first half, one from a botched puck-out by Mark Fanning, the other when cornerback Darragh Carley got caught under a high ball. Killer scores.
“The couple of goals they got were all our mistakes,” said Wexford manager Keith Rossiter afterwards. “We can dress it up any way we want – we handed them the first goal and we got out of position for the second one.
“A long ball down the middle, Darragh caught out of position, the ball drops in, hits the deck and it’s in. If we’re positioned right there, that doesn’t happen. All basic errors but at the top level, you’re going to be caught with every one you make.”
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Ultimately, the goals were the difference in a game that was bitty and stop-start throughout. If hurling can sometimes soar like a symphony, this was more like static coming through an AM radio. A stuttering jumble of line balls and frees, rucks, throw-ins and puck-outs. Nothing flowed, nothing rhymed.
In a game of 45 scores, 22 of them came from placed balls. Lee Chin and Donal Burke traded frees all day, both ending up with 0-14 against their name. It’s probably telling that three of Burke’s came from 65s, all of them after fine saves by Fanning in the Wexford goal. Whereas Dublin had five clear sights at a green flag, taking two of them, the home side hardly created a goal chance of note in the entire game.
With the wind behind them in the first half, it was always going to be a matter of Dublin posting a score and seeing could they hang on. After a scrappy opening period, they stuck the first goal on 12 minutes, when David Purcell swooped on to a careless short puck-out and fired home. When Burke landed a point from just outside his own 45 soon after, Dublin were 1-6 to 0-2 ahead with just a quarter of an hour gone.
It could have got ugly for the home side after that, but Fanning made up for his error with a couple of crucial saves. Chin kept Wexford in touch at the other end, potting his frees and sniping the odd one from play. But the second Dublin goal, netted by Cian O’Sullivan, put clear water between the sides, leaving the visitors 2-13 to 0-10 ahead at the break. A nine-point lead for what felt more like a five-point wind.
Wexford started the second half much better, pushing up on the Dublin puck-out and chipping away at the lead through Chin’s free-taking. But again they were careless at the back and it needed another brilliant Fanning save, this time from John Hetherton, to keep them breathing.
Burke nailed the 65 again though and speared free after free into the wind to keep Dublin out of reach. It was a stunning display of shooting from the Na Fianna man, who only had three misses from 17 shots all day.
“Listen, Donal’s fantastic,” said Niall Ó Ceallacháin afterwards. “A man that you just trust all the time for that. Particularly in a second half like that where you’re up against it, just to know that you have a 90, 95 per cent freetaker, when the ball’s put down it’s going over the bar is massive.
“Those scores, they might look routine. They’re not. They’re the lifeblood in a second half like that when you just have to stop their momentum and keep the scoreboard ticking over. It’s massive and he was excellent today.”
Still, Wexford had their chances. They just didn’t take enough of them. With the wind at their backs in the second half, they pucked nine pretty shoddy wides that entirely sucked the air out of the afternoon. They went 15 minutes in the second half without scoring, leaving them 2-20 to 0-15 behind at the clock turned 60 minutes.
It left them with far too much to do. Jack O’Connor came off the bench to score the point of the day and Chin kept his end up with the frees. But Dublin were never too bothered and when Burke curled one glorious final point in on the breeze in injury-time, the day was done.
WEXFORD: M Fanning; D Carley, L Ryan, S Donoghue (0-1); D Reck, R Lawlor, C Foley; D O’Leary, C Hearne (0-1); R Banville (0-2), S Roche (0-1), C Byrne; K Foley (0-1), L Chin (0-14, 12f), D Codd (0-1). Subs: J Byrne for Codd (48 mins), J O’Connor (0-1) for Byrne (57), E Wickham for Donoghue (63).
DUBLIN: E Gibbons; L Rushe, P Smyth, E O’Donnell; C Burke (0-1), C Crummey, P Doyle; B Hayes (0-2), C Donoghue; F Whitely, D Burke (0-14, 7f, 3′65), D Power; D Purcell (1-0), J Hetherton (0-1), C O’Sullivan (1-3). Subs: C McHugh for O’Donnell (38 mins), C O’Riain for Power (49), R Hayes for Purcell (61), C Groarke for Hetherton (72), O Gaffney for Whitely (75).
Referee: S Hynes (Galway).
