Division One B: Wexford - 5-12 Galway 1-07 Although the bare score line seems to demand that this game be moved from the realm of sports and placed for examination in a department of psychology, perhaps a few mitigating factors should be pointed out.
This was league. It was a foul, drenched day in Tuam. Wexford arrived on a high of self-belief and brimming confidence. Galway arrived with a whopping injury list. Freak occurrences happen in football just as in life. And it was simply a game. Nobody died - although there were a few blood-curdling whoops coming from the Wexford showerroom afterwards.
Wexford are not suddenly favourites for the All-Ireland; nor have Galway been sucked into a black hole. This was just a game.
Still: 5-12 to 1-07. The one shame about what was a great day for Wexford football was the apparent lack of cameras in the ground yesterday. It would be criminal if Mattie Forde's personal exhibition - one of the great individual extravaganzas of modern times - cannot be relived down in the south east. Irrespective of the occasion, his four goals and five points were a true joy.
Wexford played splendidly well as a team but Forde was the thorn that burst the maroon bubble. The quiet ease with which he took his hat-trick - between the 26th and 29th minute - was actually unnerving to behold. His first was an outrage; a high, curling shot on the run that left Alan Keane with little chance. Two minutes later, Galway's Kieran Fitzgerald slipped and could but watch in horror as a harmless pass bounced over his head and into Forde's arms. Barely had the score registered when Paddy Colfer delivered another ball down field for Forde, who nimbly turned inside Fitzgerald again. The finish was sinisterly accurate; it felt like watching a lethal injection.
Galway were out on their feet when Forde goaled for the last time. There was a suspicion that this finely-angled shot may have been meant as a point but it didn't matter; if Forde had scored it while juggling fire, nobody would have been surprised.
His feats overshadowed other fine performances. Colm Morris and Philip Wallace did a great shadow job on the twin Joyce threat that Galway presented up front. Replacement midfielder Wille Carley was a work horse, Scott Doran buzzed like a teenager and Robert Hassey had a strong midfield game. The team moved the ball nimbly and cleverly across the treacherous turf and played like a confident, happy bunch of contenders.
They played, in fact, like Galway did last time out. This was strictly twilight zone stuff from the westerners. Their back line was experimental, the Caltra boys were just rejoining the panel, big Kevin Walsh was out injured and Paul Clancy was moonlighting at centre-back.
It was not a classic mix but nobody could have predicted just how off-colour the final result would look. Galway were dreadful. They never quit but neither did they exhibit outright desperation to recover some pride when down 5-10 to 0-05 with 57 minutes gone. The experience must have hurt but it was hard to read how deeply from watching them on the field. In fairness, there are days in sport when the gods mock you harder the harder you try.
Players have a sense of those things. The one bright spot was John Devane. It was not so much that the young forward scored 1-3 (all but one point from play) but his attitude that counted. With the game as lop-sided as the last moments of the Titanic, Devane was observed busting his gut to reach an over-hit pass that raced towards the end line. That matters.
Any worries the Meehan boys had about returning to earth after the St Patrick's Day heroics were dispelled as Declan and Michael were thrown into this maelstrom. They could make little impact. When David Fogarty fisted Wexford's fourth goal - courtesy of a Mattie Forde pass - on 39 minutes, all Galway could do was try and baton down the hatches. So Gary Fahey was sent in with a heavily bandaged leg. His appearance hammered home the fact that Kevin Walsh was also missing.
In the last 10 minutes, order was restored and Galway had the better of the exchanges. Devane got a fist to a dropping Pauric Joyce ball and raised a subdued cheer from the stand.
Wexford trooped off the field soaking up the totality and splendour of their victory. Up 3-07 to 0-3 at the break, they warned themselves to anticipate a full Galway onslaught. It never materialised and a small merry band of Wexford fans all but danced in the rain to celebrate a famous day.
This improbable result is a fly in the ointment of what had been a smooth campaign for Galway. Now they face a tough assignment in Cavan where a win becomes of utmost importance. Wexford close their campaign against Laois seeking a win to push them into the semi-finals. After that, who knows? The world is not enough.
WEXFORD: J Cooper; C Morris, P Wallace, N Murphy; D Breen, D Murphy, G Sunderland; R Hassey (0-1), W Carley (0-1); D Fogarty(1-1), P Colfer, J Hudson; S Doran (0-3), D Foran, M Forde (4-5). Subs: J Hegarty (0-1) for D Foran (half-time), D Browne for S Doran (62 mins), T Wall for G Sunderland (65 mins), L O'Brien for M Forde ( 68).
GALWAY: A Keane; B Dooney, K Fitzgerald, C Monaghan; M Comer, P Clancy, S De Paor; J Bergin, S O'Domhnaill; M Donnellan, P Joyce (0-3, 2 frees), M Clancy; T Joyce, N Joyce (0-1, free), J Devane (1-3, 1 free). Subs: M Meehan for T Joyce (half-time), D Meehan for K Fitzgerald (half-time), D Fahey for M Comer (41), D Savage for N Joyce (47).
Ref: P Russell (Tipperary).
