MOMENTUM can be infectious and Wexford's bandwagon continued rolling at Parnell Park on Saturday evening when their under-21s overwhelmed Antrim in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Of course, no one expected Antrim to seriously trouble a Wexford side that came through an arduous Leinster campaign which included two replay wins over Kilkenny and Offaly.

With this in mind, Wexford senior manager Liam Griffin requested that senior players Rory McCarthy and Gary Laffan be withdrawn from proceedings. And with senior panellist Declan Ruth forced out by a back injury, Antrim may have felt they were in with a shout.

However, 10 minutes into the game, this notion had already been made redundant. From the moment corner forward Michael Jordan availed of a delivery from midfielder Martin Byrne to crack home a goal, Wexford were superior, moving and thinking more quickly. Jason Lawlor, late replacement Declan O'Connor, Jordan, Paul Codd (two) and Sean Colfer were all on the target to give Wexford a 1-6 to 0-0 lead at this point.

Antrim's Malachy Molloy pointed a 10th-minute free to momentarily halt Wexford's gallop as Ryan McNaughton. Michael O'Neill, Aidan McCloskey and Molloy in particular fought against the inevitable.

With James Purcell and Michael O'Leary cordoning off Antrim's attempted break-outs and the forceful Byrne controlling the centre, traffic was redirected towards the Antrim goal.

Byrne and Molloy (from a free) shot points before Antrim let their best chance of a first-half goal whistle by M J Cooper's left hand post. Following a protracted skirmish in front of goal, Barry O'Hara found himself in space 10 yards from goal, but he failed to convert.

Codd (two) and Jordan closed out the first-half scoring with Wexford in a healthy 1-10 to 0-2 lead. Hoping to push for a senior place. Codd started rather rustily. But it was hard to ignore his consistent accuracy from play and placed balls. The sharper movements of Jordan would he better used if he were to steady before looking to shoot. That said, both these players were a constant threat to Antrim.

The second half was more a case of Wexford drifting into neutral than Antrim going up the gears. Time and again O'Leary's swift low distribution gave his forwards every chance to swipe possession and two more goals followed from Jason Lawlor and Codd, from a 21-metre free.

With time running out Liam Richmond shot four points and Ciaran Stewart poached a goal to give the Northerners some measure of compensation. But this was a contest on paper only as Wexford made it through to their first All-Ireland under-21 final since 1986.