Dublin take Leinster title

Dublin 2-12 Wexford 1-12

The Delaney Cup is back in the capital, but Dublin will not take much heart from their sixth Leinster SFC title in seven years as they set their sights on the ultimate goal, an All-Ireland title.

Pat Gilroy’s side struggled for long stages of a game in which they looked sluggish, lacking in direction and leadership.

Brave Wexford pushed the hot favourites all the way, and but for a second half disaster which gifted their opponents an own goal, they could have had a result from this Croke park decider played in front of a crowd of 40,000.

Ben Brosnan was the game’s outstanding attacker, finishing with a nine points tally, but in the end, it wasn’t enough to inspire his side to a first provincial title in 56 years.

It took Bernard Brogan just 20 seconds to squeeze over the opening score from an acute angle, but once Graeme Molloy got the measure of the Dublin danger man, it was a different story for the remainder of the first half.

Brogan saw a succession of efforts either drift wide or drop into the arms of goalkeeper Anthony Masterson, but his brother Alan nailed a couple of excellent scores as Pat Gilroy’s men opened out a 0-6 to 0-2 lead by the 19th minute.

Stephen Cluxton converted ’45, Paul Flynn and Bryan Cullen were also on target, and a disciplined Dublin defence halted a series of Wexford attacks.

Jason Ryan’s men scored just two points in the opening 20 minutes, through Ciaran Lyng and a Ben Brosnan ’45, but in the latter stages of the half, they began to penetrate.

Lyng curled over his second score, Brosnan converted another ’45, added a point from play, and wing back Adrian Flynn fired over an excellent long range point.

At the break, the Dubs led by a single point, 0-7 to 0-6, but the sides were level five minutes into the second half through Brosnan, who converted a free, having earlier brought a smart save from Cluxton.

Dublin supporters in the crowd of 40,000 were stunned into silence on 44 minutes when substitute PJ Banville sent Redmond Barry in to round Cluxton and plant the ball in the net at the Hill 16 end.

Dublin got themselves back in front with a fortuitous goal in the 51st minute, a catastrophe for goalkeeper Masterson, who elected to punch Tomas Quinn’s delivery, and the ball cannoned off his own full back Molloy and into the net.

And wing back James McCarthy drove through a hesitant defence to smash home a brilliant second Dublin goal five minutes later.

Still, Wexford refused to surrender, and Brosnan continued to hit the target, bringing his tally to nine with another couple of quality finishes.

But the Dubs, with scores from Denis Bastick and Ross McConnell, succeeded in keeping their noses just in front to the finish.

Dublin: S Cluxton (0-1, ’45), M Fitzsimons, R O’Carroll, P Conlon, J McCarthy (1-0), G Brennan, K Nolan, D Bastick (0-1), E Fennell, P Flynn (0-1), A Brogan (0-3), B Cullen (0-1), E O'Gara, D Connolly, B Brogan (0-3, 1f).

Subs: T Quinn for Connolly (31), K McMenamin (0-1) for O’Gara (h-t), B Cahill for Fennell (51), D Henry for B Brogan, R McConnell (0-1) for Quinn (68)

Wexford: A Masterson, J Wadding, G Molloy (1-0, o.g.), B Malone, A Flynn (0-1), D Murphy, A Doyle, D Waters, R Quinlivan, S Roche, C Lyng (0-2), B Brosnan (0-9, 4f, 2 ’45), C Morris, E Bradley, R Barry (1-0).

Subs: PJ Banville for Roche (40), A Morrissey for Doyle (54), P Byrne for Morris (62), L Og McGovern for Quinlivan (64)

Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).