Wexford breach final frontier

A MEMORABLE DAY for Wexford football in Croke Park yesterday, when the enormous achievement for rookie manager Jason Ryan and his players in making the Leinster final after a lapse of 52 years superseded the manner in which it was accomplished.

That was largely as a result of a superior team performance against a relatively inexperienced Laois combination which manager Liam Kearns accepted didn’t play up to potential.

The plain fact of the matter is that Wexford triumphed with significantly less trouble than it had taken them to overcome Meath in dramatic fashion in the quarter-final. Once they had wiped out an early two points deficit (by the 12th minute) they never fell behind for the rest of the game. And they impressed particularly in putting down a brave attempt by Laois in trying to save the game when they came to within three points ten minutes from time.