Dublin survive spirited Wexford comeback

Dublin 0-13 Wexford 1-8

Such glamour seemed a million miles away yesterday in a soggy and bitterly cold O’Toole’s GAA Club in Coolock, where Dublin booked an O’Byrne Cup semi-final meeting with Meath after surviving a determined second-half comeback from Paul Bealin’s new charges.

Mattie Forde was again Wexford’s beacon, snaffling 1-3 on his return to the game after three months on the sideline. But the former Footballer of the Year was outdone by Alan Brogan, whose four-point haul from play was by no means the sum of his efforts.

Of those making their auditions, Dublin’s Denis Bastick in midfield and full-forward Kevin Bonner - son of former Donegal servant Seamus - did most to earn a second chance on the inter-county stage.

Last year, Paul Caffrey’s late appointment resulted in the county’s U21 team being delegated O’Byrne Cup duty, so unearthing even one championship player from this competition will be an added bonus this year.

“You can’t beat competitive games,” said Caffrey. “There’s a lot of fellas very keen to get out there and show what they can do for Dublin.”

By half time, with his side leading 0-9 to 1-1, Caffrey would have been a happy man but the scoreline hid the fact that the hosts had played with a strong wind.

It also belied the fiercely competitive nature of a game that, within 30 minutes, had seen three large-scale confrontations.

By the end of play, the number of bookings approached double figures and, in an atmosphere like that, Wexford were unlikely to lie down.

So it proved after the restart when, with the wind and rain finally abating, the visitors earned more of a profit from their patient short-passing game.

David O’Callaghan had the opportunity to nip any revival in the bud after 55 minutes but his shot from eight yards cannoned off Anthony Masterson in the Wexford goal.

The scores at that point lay at 0-11 to 1-4 and Wexford made the most of the reprieve.

When Ciaran Deely kicked over a point four minutes into injury time only a goal separated the sides. Dublin’s win was secured when Barry Cahill blocked down Padraic Curtis’ shot from inside the area 60 seconds later.

DUBLIN: P Copeland; C Prenderville, B Cahill, M Fitzpatrick; G Norton, D Henry, G Lewis; D Bastick, D Reilly; D Murray, A Brogan (0-4), K Leahy; D O’Callaghan (0-1), K Bonner (0-2), T Quinn (0-5f).

Subs: P Andrews for Prenderville 42, C Goggins for Leahy 49, E Fennell for Reilly 57, D Joyce for Murray 66, J Leonard for Copeland 68.

WEXFORD: A Masterson, C Morris, P Wallace, N Murphy; P Curtis, D Murphy, L O’Brien; P Colfer, D Fogarty; C Deely (0-1), D Shannon (0-1), G O’Grady, PJ Banville (0-1), J Hudson (0-1), M Forde (1-3, 1-2f).

Subs: R Barry for O’Grady 29, G Sunderland for O’Brien 47, R Purcell for Colfer 57, D Breen (0-1) for Shannon 68.

Referee: G McKenny (Louth).