Barry O’Connor's winner sees Wexford seal rare victory over Dublin

Wexford 1-12 Dublin 0-14: Barry O’Connor scored the crucial point three minutes into additional time as Wexford scored a rare and famous victory over Dublin in this exciting O’Byrne Cup senior football game at St. Patrick’s Park, Enniscorthy, yesterday.

Colm Basquel gave the visitors the lead in the opening minute but thereafter Wexford were in control and led the game up to the closing minutes when Dublin sub, Kevin Vallaghan, edged the visitors ahead (0-14 to 1-10).

However Wexford kept the cool and responded in style - a Craig McCabe pointed free two minutes into added time had the sides level, before one minute later O’Connor, son of the legendary George, kicked over the decisive score.

With manager Paul McLoughlin having the returning Daithi Waters and Brian Malone back in his side the hosts controlled the opening 35 minutes with some neat attacking football.

After Dublin’s early opening score, Wexford bounced back with successive points from O’Connor and a Craig McCabe free, but it was Waters who struck for the game’s only goal after seven minutes when he drove through the centre of the defence.

He kept his composure to fire low into the corner of the net giving his side a 1-2 to 0-1 lead.

Dublin had their moments but were reliant on centre-forward Basquel for scores along with an effort from Paddy Small while Wexford had an impressive list of men on target as points from Tiernan Rossiter, Brian Malone, Cathal Devereux and O’Connor had them 1-9 to 0-6 ahead at the interval.

Dublin got their first point of the second half through Small after four minutes and they continued to reduce the deficit through efforts from Basquel, with Wexford having their opening second-half score, a McCabe pointed free after 50 minutes.

A number of substitutions breathed new life into the Dubs with a Basquel fine point from play bring them level, 1-10 to 0-13, with ten minutes remaining, but it was Wexford who prevailed in a tense finish for a well-deserved victory.

Scorers for Wexford:

D Waters 1-0, C McCabe (3f, 1 ‘45) 0-4, B O’Connor 0-3, C Devereux 0-2 frees, B Malone, G Malone, T Rossiter 0-1 each.

Scorers for Dublin:

C Basquel (5f) 0-6, P Small, K Vallaghan, E O Conghaile, 0-2 each, A Rogers, G O’Reilly 0-1 each.

WEXFORD:

P Doyle; J Rossiter, M O’Neill, C Carty; B O’Gorman, B Malone, G Malone; D Waters, N Doyle; T Rossiter, B O’Connor, R Frayne; C McCabe, P Curtis, C Devereux.

Subs:

B Brosnan for Frayne (45), J Stafford for Waters (45), D Holmes for Devereux (60), E Nolan for Stafford (inj. 60), D Pepper for Curtis (60).

DUBLIN:

J B Carty; R McGowan, G Hannigan, B Howard; D Devereux, S McMahon, G Seaver; E O Conghaile, A Rogers; C Wilson, C Basquel, G O’Reilly; E O’Brien,S Carty, P Small.

Subs:

R Deegan for McGowan (ht), D Kennedy for S Carty (ht), A McGowan for O’Reilly (45), C Doyle for Hannigan (45), K Vallaghan for Seaver (47), T Quinn for Devereux (480, N Walsh for Small (66).

Referee:

D Hickey (Carlow).