Dublin secure Walsh Cup with whopping 16-point win over Wexford

Dublin 2-29 Wexford 0-19

Donal Burke brilliant display of accuracy saw Dublin cruise to a most comfortable 16-point victory over a disappointing Wexford side in this Walsh Cup senior hurling final at Croke Park on Saturday evening.

Dublin dominated the game for the majority of 70 minutes, with a wasteful Wexford attack seeing their side struggle to keep some respect on the final scoreline.

Wexford, who face Limerick in their opening league game, were desperately disappointing and judging on this display will need to show huge improvement to save further embarrassment, while Dublin have got their season off to an ideal start with the lifting of silverware.

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Once they overcame the early Wexford attacks, Dublin picked off scores through the accuracy of Burke from frees, to go along with goals from Fergal Whitely and sub Ronan Hayes. They had built up an 11-point interval lead, 2-14 to 0-9, an impressive scoring tally for 35 minutes.

Dublin, showing greater pace and composure, continued to dominate the second half as they outplayed Wexford, whose full-back line came under intense pressure despite the fine hurling of Liam Ryan from full back.

With Dublin continuing to press forward, playing the ball into space for their speedy attack, they tore the Wexford defence apart with Danny Sutcliffe, Chris Crummy, Eamonn Dillon and Cian O'Callaghan being particularly prominent, as they picked off points at will.

Wexford’s new manager Darragh Egan looked somewhat disconsolate on the sideline as he saw his side outplayed, failing to reach the highs of their draw with Kilkenny seven days earlier. During the course of the game they failed to create a single goalscoring opportunity, as they lacked penetration in attack.

Dublin's Mattie Kenny will be happy to have seen his side lift silverware for the first time under his management and it was man-of-the-match, full-back Eoghan O'Donnell, who lifted the cup, capping a fine evening as he totally outplayed Conor McDonald, who was replaced with 10 minutes to go.

DUBLIN: S Brennan; A Dunphy, E O'Donnell, C O'Callaghan (0-1); D Gray, P Smyth (0-1), J Madden (0-1); C Burke (0-3), C Crummy (0-1); D Sutcliffe (0-1), R McBride (0-1), D Burke (0-10, nine frees); F Whitely (1-3), C Currie (0-2), A Mellett.

Subs: R Hayes (1-0) for Currie (34 mins), E Dillon (0-2) for Mellett (46), J Bellew for Gray (52), D Keogh (0-1) for Whitely, S Moran for Crummy, J Hetherington (0-1) for Sutcliffe (all 60), S Currie (0-1) for D Burke, P Crummey for McBride, K Burke for Madden, L Walsh for O'Callaghan (all 65).

WEXFORD: M Fanning; C Devitt, L Ryan, M O'Hanlon; C Flood, P Foley (0-1), D Reck (0-1); K Foley, D O'Keeffe (0-1); O Foley (0-1), J O'Connor (0-1), L Óg McGovern (0-2); P Morris , C McDonald (0-1), S Casey (0-3, three frees).

Subs: M Dwyer (0-2) for K Foley (10 mins), C Dunbar (0-1) for O'Connor (34), O Pepper (0-2) for Morris (44), S Donohoe for Flood (47), B Dunne (0-3, three frees) for Casey (53), K Scallan for Devitt, A Doyle for O'Keeffe (both 59), R Lawlor for McDonald, D Dunne for McGovern (both 60).

Referee: P Murphy (Carlow).