Victory over Wexford sends Dublin's hurlers top

Wexford 2-15 Dublin 3-21

David O’Callaghan drilled home 3-02 as Dublin beat Wexford to move to the top of Allianz Hurling League Division 1.

O'Callaghan netted twice in the opening 12 minutes as Wexford Park as the visitors took a 2-10 to 2-05 interval lead. Jim Berry, who finished with 1-07, and Gareth Sinnott claimed Wexford's goals.

O'Callaghan was set up by Ryan O'Dwyer for his third goal, early in the second half, and Dublin were able to see out their third league win with a degree of comfort.

Ilness and injury doubts surrounded the Dublin panel in the lead-up to this game. Conal Keaney failed to recover in time from a bout of 'flu, and his half-forward berth was handed to O'Callaghan before the throw-in.

The St. Mark's clubman, who was also affected by 'flu earlier in the week, was back to his best as helped by O'Dwyer's assists, he put Wexford to the sword.

John McCaffrey (0-05) and Berry swapped scores in the opening stages but once Tipperary native O'Dwyer edged Dublin ahead in the fourth minute, Anthony Daly's men were never headed.

Dublin built a 1-04 to 0-01 lead with O'Callaghan smashing the ball past Noel Carton in the seventh minute, after a clearance from Liam Rushe and a final pass from O'Dwyer.

Berry pegged a point back for Wexford, but Dublin soon had a second goal. O'Dwyer seemed to be fouled but advantage was played and he teed up O'Callaghan for another fine finish from close range.

A Berry point was quickly cancelled out by Peadar Carton, and a Conor McCormack effort pushed the Dubs 2-06 to 0-03 clear by the quarter hour mark.

Berry's long range free-taking accuracy continued to be a feature of Wexford's play, and he also forced a block from Dublin goalkeeper Gary Maguire in the 16th minute.

The Faythe Harriers clubman added his fourth point before hammering home a 20th minute goal. Tomas Waters created the opening as he cut through the Dublin defence before crossing for Berry to finish low to the net.

The deficit was now down to five points but Dublin rallied with three unanswered points. The increasingly influential O'Dwyer sent over a trio of points to keep the visitors on track.

Sinnott struck for Wexford's second goal in the 33rd minute. Full-back Matthew O'Hanlon helped Wexford turn defence into attack, before Rory Jacob outpaced Simon Lambert. He had his shot half-blocked by Maguire, but Sinnott managed to score on the follow up.

Berry and O'Dwyer exchanged points before the break, and the former added another as the second half got underway. Daly introduced Shane Ryan and Oisin Gough and the Walsh Cup champions looked capable of moving up a gear or two.

O'Callaghan quickly cancelled out Berry's effort before completing his hat-trick of goals. It came from a great move involving Liam Rushe and O'Dwyer and with the Wexford rearguard sliced open again, O'Callaghan was able to find the net again in the 40th minute.

Stephen Banville claimed his only score of the game and Wexford matched Dublin in the middle third of the second half, helped by scores from David Redmond and Rory Jacob. With nine minutes left on the clock, there were six points between the sides.

But Dublin always looked capable of raising their game and they cemented a comfortable win late on with further points from O'Dwyer, Shane Durkin and McCaffrey.