Resilience wins day for Wexford in battle against Cork

Wexford 1-16 Cork 1-15, Wexford Park, Allianz Hurling League

Relegation-threatened Wexford showed great resilience to beat Cork and claim their first Division 1 victory at Wexford Park.

Colm Bonnar’s side were 1-09 to 0-07 behind at half-time, having conceded a 27th minute goal to Cathal Naughton.

But Wexford answered back with a scrambled goal from Stephen Banville, and points from Paul Roche and Jim Berry helped them lead for the first time at 1-11 to 1-10. Their determination got them over the finish line in the end.

This was a very gritty performance from Wexford who showed their eagerness to remain a top flight side and avoid being relegated for the third time in four years.

Cork came into this game still harbouring hopes of reaching the Division 1 final, and their manager Denis Walsh opted to make nine changes to the team that drew with Tipperary last time out.

Although Wexford enjoyed some early success, this encounter seemed to be going with the script when four points from an in-form Ben O'Connor moved the visitors into a 0-07 to 0-03 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the first half.

Michael Cussen was exerting some influence as a roaming member of the Cork attack and Wexford were struggling to keep him out of the game.

Cork had had a let-off in the 16th minute when Jim Berry dropped a free in short of the posts and Harry Kehoe's stinging shot was batted onto the crossbar and away to safety by goalkeeper Anthony Nash.

Cork did manage to find the net, 11 minutes later. A powerful run from midfielder Tom Kenny left the Wexford defence stretched and he passed for Cathal Naughton to rifle the ball to the far corner of Niall Breen's net.

Wexford replied with two points from Berry, but O'Connor was quickly in to register his first point from play - adding to five frees - and Cork's lead stood at five points at the turnaround.

But Wexford came out like a team possessed for the second period and immediately began to eat into Cork's advantage. PJ Nolan and Paul Roche, who converted a '65', landed early points.

Then came Stephen Banville's goal. Cork net minder Nash failed to deal with a long ball in from Lar Prendergast and Banville was able to force the ball over the line.

Suddenly, it was all Wexford. Roche added a terrific point from 100 yards out and a Berry free put the Model men ahead for the first time at 1-11 to 1-10.

Cork stayed in the hunt, mainly through the accuracy of Ben O'Connor who went into double figures with his scoring. But Wexford were not going to let their lead slip and a run of three successive points, including two from Nicky Kirwan, proved crucial in the end.

Bonnar's charges will have to pull out a performance of the same ilk when they tackle Tipperary at Semple Stadium their final game on April 17.

With one side dropping down to Division 2, the relegation battle is a straight shootout between Wexford and Offaly. The Faithfuls are bottom of the table on scoring difference and finish their campaign with a trip to Leinster kingpins Kilkenny in two weeks' time.