Oulart land historic third title in-a-row

RATHNURE tried hard but were unable to stop Oulart-the-Ballagh completing a three-in-a-row in a dour Wexford SHC final at Wexford Park yesterday.

This game failed to revive memories of past clashes between these sides. There was lots of hard graft, but little fluent hurling, but when the champions scored that goal after just nine minutes, it turned into the most important score of the game.

Defences stood tall, with Rathnure limiting the threat of the highly rated Oulart attack as the champions had first use of the strong wind. However, on the resumption it was the turn of Oulart’s defence to come to the forefront, with Keith Rossiter and Paul Roche, excelling.