Wexford draw line through script

All-Ireland SHC semi-final/Cork  2-20 Wexford  3-17: Maybe we're not in the middle of another golden age for hurling but yesterday's powder keg Guinness All-Ireland semi-final will more than hold its own when posterity flicks through the fabled Cork-Wexford back catalogue.

This was a match with so many twists that it almost had to be dug out of the pitch when it concluded with the teams drained but unbeaten - they replay on Saturday in Croke Park at 3.30 - and the 60,000 crowd vibrating from the high-voltage experience.

In such circumstances it's hard to be dispassionate. You don't take in all the scenery when falling from a plane. But this was a blazing afternoon's hurling.

Unpredictable in that Wexford outperformed even sympathetic projections. Riveting because of the mercury tilt with which the match switched direction. And spectacular because so many players hurled so well.

Predictably, both teams will have their regrets. Wexford got nothing from two goal chances near the end but were all but clinically dead when Rory McCarthy's sensational finish beat Donal Cusack at the near post in the third minute of injury time.

Alan Browne had seconds previously squeezed over what looked like Cork's insurance point - and would dramatically prove just that - but with the match at their mercy Cork had reeled off a sequence of wides that let Wexford off the hook.

But very few will quibble with the draw either as a prospect for next week or as a reflection of what passed yesterday afternoon.

Let's cut the match up into its logical sections. For the first 45 minutes Wexford gained impressive altitude. Then in little over 10 disastrous minutes of turbulence Cork plunged them into crisis. In the closing 15 minutes the match stabilised as the Munster champions failed to bury Wexford and were made to pay.

Early on Wexford had done the things that had been check-listed as necessary for success.

Firstly, Cork's half backs were being disrupted with the result scores were coming and, vitally for Wexford, the platform from which Clare and Waterford were beaten was not emerging. Larry Murphy hustled at centre forward, creating pressure on Ronan Curran, and Tom Kenny had his hands full with Michael Jacob.

Secondly, the scoring was fluent and consistent, sometimes breathtaking in ambition and execution. Wexford were menacing Cork with their assassin's calm and accuracy. By half time they had shot only two wides.

Thirdly, luck was playing a role. The erratic bounce of the new sliotar went against Cork a couple of times. The now familiar disinclination of referee Aodán Mac Suibhne to penalise all fouls also helped Wexford escape a couple of frees - and worse given that Doc O'Connor escaped censure for a nasty elbow on Niall McCarthy in the 25th minute.

The Cork centre forward was game enough to storm back within a minute and force a fine save from Damien Fitzhenry, and though goalkeeping acumen doesn't count as luck, Wexford could have conceded more in the first half.

But look at how they did at the other end. Paul Codd was in for a goal in the sixth minute after a fine interchange between Michael Jordan, Michael Jacob and Liam Dunne, whose long ball was well won off Pat Mulcahy by Codd, who slipped the ball into the net.

Mulcahy would be switched to the corner, where he proved more effective, while Diarmuid O'Sullivan was as comfortable back on his old stamping ground, where he had a good old tussle with Murphy once a bout of fairground posing was concluded.

Codd's goal established a lead that Wexford protected for 40-odd minutes. Part of that process was the marksmanship of Jordan, Michael Jacob and the forwards and part was the hard work in defence. Darragh Ryan's return was expected to firm up the unit Antrim had threatened with destruction, and so it proved.

Although his hand injury clearly troubled him - he handled little ball until the second half - he used his physique well to make life difficult for Joe Deane.

There were problems though. Doc O'Connor was beaten on a couple of occasions by Setanta Ó hAilpín, although he made amends in the 21st minute when scrambling a ball off the line. Declan Ruth also looked untypically hesitant about catching ball.

With enormous puck-outs soaring the length of the pitch, centrefield wasn't too involved in the first half, but John Gardiner, who shot two points in each half, was the most prominent on either side.

Adrian Fenlon's return meant there was a quick trigger around the half-forward line. Although Seán Ó hAilpín probably saw too much possession from a Wexford point of view, Fenlon swept fast ball up the right wing and pointed an outrageous sideline cut from 13 metres just before the break.

Wexford led by 1-11 to 0-10.

The second half started in much the same fashion and the lead was six before Deane's free got Cork off the mark. Their revival was heralded by an unlikely source. Mickey O'Connell had been fairly anonymous until the 46th minute, when he hared off on a solo and pointed. Two minutes later, O'Sullivan thrashed a free from defence. Setanta Ó hAilpín swooped on it, broke the cover and side-footed to the net.

With the margin down to a point, the match took on the shape many had expected. Wexford looked exposed for pace at the back and were being brushed aside up front. Cork's half backs exerted the sort of dominance recognisable from previous outings. Curran began to lord it under the dropping ball and O'Sullivan came crashing out from full back, scattering opponents.

The wing forwards, Timmy McCarthy and Ben O'Connor, were now unleashed, finding at last the space and possession to have a cut. This ebullient phase climaxed in the 57th minute when Deane picked up the break after a Timmy McCarthy solo and drove home Cork's second goal. They had turned a five-point deficit into a five-point lead in 11 minutes.

In all the envisaged scenarios, Wexford were supposed to succumb when Cork turned up the heat. So you had to admire the way they responded. Admittedly they were assisted by Cork's poor finishing. Unusually, Deane, now in the left corner, was guilty of two poor wides but Wexford's forwards continued to scrap for ball and Murphy showed he had the beating of O'Sullivan in the air.

One such incident on the hour saw Jordan steaming onto the hand pass and though Kenny did well to block, the rebound was planted in the net. A second saw Murphy's own shot blocked and Michael Jacob pointing the break. A third ended in stalemate, as under pressure he couldn't get in a shot.

Jordan had the chance of a second goal four minutes after his first but shot weakly. The match was back in the melting pot and although as time melted away, Wexford looked to have missed too many chances, there was one last flourish. Jordan's hand pass into Rory McCarthy looked to have too tight an angle but somehow the player conjured up the shot and the reprieve.

Three players yesterday wore a sponsor's logo on their hurls. Damien Fitzhenry, Paul Codd, and Cork's Seán Ó hAilpín were individually sponsored by bookmakers Paddy Power.

Further such sponsorship is imminent but the GAA are expected to block it, as only the manufacturers' and team sponsors' logos are allowed on equipment and clothing.

CORK: 1. D Cusack; 2. W Sherlock, 3. P Mulcahy, 4. D O'Sullivan; 5. T Kenny, 6. R Curran, 7. Seán Ó hAilpín; 8. J Gardiner (0-4), 9. M O'Connell (0-1); 10. B O'Connor (0-1), 11. N McCarthy (0-1), 12. T McCarthy (0-1); 13. Setanta Ó hAilpín (1-3); 14. J Deane (1-7, 0-4 frees), 15. A Browne (capt, 0-2). Subs: 22. J O'Connor for T McCarthy (63 mins), 21. S McGrath for N McCarthy (72 mins).

WEXFORD: 1. D Fitzhenry; 2. D Guiney, 3. D Ryan, 4. D O'Connor; 5. D Stamp, 6. D Ruth, 7. L Dunne; 8. R McCarthy (1-0), 9. L O'Gorman; 10. A Fenlon (0-3, 0-2 sidelines), 11. L Murphy (0-2), 12. M Jacob (0-4); 13. M Jordan (1-2), 14. P Codd (capt, 1-5, 0-2 frees, 0-1 65), 15. R Jacob (0-1). Subs: 22. T Mahon for O'Gorman (63 mins), 24. C McGrath for Murphy (72 mins).

Referee: A Mac Suibhne (Dublin).