Morkan saves the day

Three months ago, Wexford came from nine points down to grab a sensational one-point Allianz League victory over Offaly thanks to a late goal from teenager Jack Guiney.

On Saturday evening at O’Connor Park in Tullamore, Offaly again were in command (2-12 to 0-9) when Wexford again went on the comeback trail.

And again it was that youngster, Jack Guiney, to the fore. He kick-started Wexford’s comeback by blasting a 20m free to the net, then had a late injury-time opportunity from the same spot to win the game by a point. But there was to be no repeat of his league heroics as his thunderous shot was saved by corner-back Derek Morkan on the Offaly line and scrambled clear.

“To tell you the truth I didn’t see a whole lot of the shot,” Morkan admitted, “I took a heavy challenge earlier in the game and the eye was gone a bit funny! Two of us blocked it together – I got the hurl to it but it was a fair belt of a ball! We got the win, that’s the main thing, though we made hard work of it in the end.”

Shot saved, game saved, but it was the major talking-point afterwards – should the youngster have gone for the goal? Morkan was in no doubt. “He had to go for it, we were two points up.”

Wexford manager Liam Dunne also supported the decision by the teenager. “I didn’t say a word to him, I let him make up his own mind. We weren’t getting too many goal chances and we were two points down. He has just turned 19, he had the balls to go for it. He’d have been a hero if it had went in but in fairness to them they saved it. He scored one in Wexford Park three months ago when we won the game by a point, it didn’t go in this time around — if it had maybe the referee might have made a draw out of it. Offaly were deserving winners, but we are not going away.”

It was a sporting admission by Dunne considering how close Wexford came to winning, but it was only the truth. It was tight at the finish but Offaly’s two periods of dominance – the second and third quarters – were just that bit more emphatic than Wexford’s time on top.

In goalkeeper James Dempsey they also had a game-saver, as he made three crucial stops in the first half alone, though Eanna Martin did deny Shane Dooley (magnificent game again for Offaly) at the other end in the second period.

“We lost our way for ten minutes before half-time and ten minutes at the start of the second half,” said Dunne. “It just didn’t happen for us, but we have a young team and we just have to learn from it. I’m looking forward to maybe getting another 10 months under our belts. We’ll take a lot more positives out of it than negatives. We have another game now and we are not out of this by a long shot. We’ll see who we have in the qualifiers and we’ll prepare for it. These lads are willing and wanting and that’s half the battle.”

Liam’s counterpart, Ollie Baker, was equally honest in his assessment. “When they got the free in the last two or three minutes the nightmare of what happened in Wexford Park was in my mind, the two late frees they got that day effectively put us out of the league. We stood up to it, though, and in the last 15 minutes the backs really stood up tall and came out with the ball time and again.”

So they did, that full-back line of David Franks, David Kenny and Morkan was especially prominent but James Rigney, Rory Hanniffy and Kevin Brady also did well to stymie the efforts of the Wexford attack in which the returning Diarmuid ‘Gizzie’ Lyng was always prominent, along with Rory Jacob and Paul Morris in the corners.

As for Offaly’s chances now against Galway? Baker wasn’t looking that far ahead: “We’ve won a Leinster quarter-final, that’s all. Offaly and Wexford haven’t been in contention for Leinster or All-Ireland honours in seven or eight years but these are the kind of games you train for. It’s brilliant to be in a Leinster semi-final in two weeks’ time but we’re just delighted to be still in the draw. The championship never-say-die attitude is so important; you aren’t thinking of the back door, you’re just thinking of the day and that is what makes the game of hurling and championship hurling so unique.”

Scorers for Offaly: S Dooley 1-8 (7f); J Bergin 1-1; B Carroll 0-2; B Murphy 0-1.

Scorers for Wexford: J Guiney 1-3 (all frees); P Morris 0-3; R Jacob 0-3; D Lyng 0-2 (1s/l); G Sinnott, PJ Nolan, 0-1 each.

Subs for Offaly: S Ryan (Parlon 56); C Hernon (Mahon 66); D Molloy (B Murphy 71). Blood sub: S Ryan (Egan 43/45).

Subs for Wexford: D Stamp (Shaun Murphy 35); E Moore (Devereux); H Kehoe (Quigley 44); R Keogh (Stephen Murphy 51).

Referee: J Sexton (Cork).