Wexford back in reckoning

Wexford propelled themselves back into the Division 3 promotion race with a deserved two-point victory over Roscommon at Wexford Park yesterday.

Although Roscommon struck with a Donie Shine 73rd minute goal, the final scoreline flattered the visitors, who were unable to overcome the loss of full-forward Ger Heneghan just on half-time, dismissed on a second yellow card offence.

Wexford got off to a dream start with five unanswered points inside the opening 11 minutes. PJ Banville opened the scoring after three minutes, with Daithí Waters, two from Ben Brosnan, one a free, and Banville once again tagging on further points as Roscommon were slow to settle.

But Roscommon gradually worked their way back into the game, opening their account through a 12th minute Cathal Gregg point, with Darren McDermott adding two points, one a free, to reduce the deficit to two points, 0-5 to 0-3, after 14 minutes.

After Ciaran Lyng and John Rogers exchanged points, it was PJ Banville who worked his way along the endline to beat keeper Geoffrey Claffey with a low shot at the near post, which sent his side up for a 1-6 to 0-6 interval lead.

Wexford opened the second-half with points from Brosnan and Banville, while the visitors had to wait until the 48th minute for their opening second-half score, a Cathal Gregg point.

Roscommon, down a man, were battling to stay in the game, but when Kevin Higgins failed to find the net from close range eight minutes from the end, keeping his shot too close to keeper Anthony Masterson in a one to one, when a goal would have left the minimum separating the side.

Wexford pushed on to extend to a 1-12 to 0-10 lead, before Shine fired home a superb goal deep into stoppage time, but it was too late to affect the result. Cork ref Conor Lane issued 14 yellows and one red in a game of no real incident.

WEXFORD: A Masterson; R Tierney, G Molloy, B Malone; A Flynn (0-1), D Murphy, A Doyle; A Shore, D Waters (0-1); R Barry, C Morris, B Brosnan (0-5, 2f); C Lyng (0-1), P Byrne, PJ Banville (1-4).

Subs: E Bradley for Byrne (32); L Chin for Doyle (ht); R Quinlivan for Shore (65); C Carty for Morris (67); J Holmes for Barry (69).

ROSCOMMON: G Claffey; S McDermott, N Collins, S Purcell; I Kilbride, N Daly (0-1), C Dineen (0-1); M Finneran, K Mannion; D Keenan, C Gregg (0-3), J Rogers (0-2); C Devaney, G Heneghan, D McDermott (0-2 frees).

Subs: D Shine (1-1) for Devaney (29); K Higgins for Finneran (51); S Kilbride for McDermott (51); E Kenny for Collins (58); D O’Gara for Gregg (64).

Referee: C Lane (Cork).