Wexford to go all out for Walsh Cup final after win over Offaly
CHARGE: Paddy Delaney of Offaly in action against Charlie McGuckin of Wexford during the Walsh Cup Group 2 Round 2 match at St Brendan's Park in Birr, Offaly. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
With over 10,000 supporters set to descend on Wexford Park for next Saturday night’s floodlit battle with Kilkenny, Model County manager Darragh Egan gave a clear indication to supporters that they can expect to see several familiar faces make a return to the starting team for that contest with the Cats.
“This has been earmarked from a few months out, the first time that the floodlights will be turned on in Wexford Park, so the Kilkenny match was always going to be a standalone fixture. We definitely used the Laois and the Offaly games to see some of the newer, younger faces on the panel, and next weekend against Kilkenny it’ll be a different outfit, in full preparation for the league,” said the Tipperary native after Sunday’s three-point win over Offaly.
Egan singled out wing-back Ian Carty and his midfield duo of Richie Lawlor and Charlie McGuckin – son of Offaly All-Ireland winner Shane – for praise on the back of their first two Walsh Cup outings, and certainly Lawler was hugely influential in his team’s win on Sunday, arguably the man of the match.
After a competitive start that saw Offaly hit the front through an Oisín Kelly goal in the 11th minute, Wexford took over, largely on the back of their dominance at midfield and half-back. With a strong platform of possession, they ran at the Offaly back-line time and again, meaning that four Offaly backs had yellow cards accumulated by half-time.
Ross Banville knocked over his frees, Lawlor scored twice and McGuckin also added a highlight reel score, and it was only because of some excellent scores from debutant corner-forward Charlie Mitchell that Offaly were in touch at half-time, trailing by 0-13 to 1-8.
Oisín Kelly halved that gap with the first point of the second half, but that was to be the last home score from play for half an hour, as the decision by Offaly manager Johnny Kelly not to replace any of his yellow-carded defenders came home to roost when full-back Ciarán Burke got his second booking.
“They were running at us, and there was nothing malicious in it, but they were yellow cards and when you have one, you’re under pressure all the time. But you have to back these guys to do the right thing. Unfortunately we lost Ciarán,” Kelly said afterwards.
Some poor shooting from Wexford left Offaly in the game, as the visitors shot seven wides, and goalkeeper Eamonn Cleary and his replacement Stephen Corcoran made strong saves to deny goals for Jack O’Connor and Conor McDonald.
McDonald’s two points and a well-taken goal from Lee Chin pushed the lead out to eight, before Offaly finally rallied in the closing minutes through points from Brian Duignan and Jack Clancy, either side of David Nally’s 35 metre free that he whipped with topspin off the astroturf goalmouth and into the Wexford net.
“I’m disappointed with the last ten minutes, we fell asleep. But overall, happy with the bodies we got on the pitch, and with the effort we’ve got from the players” said Egan, while Johnny Kelly had a very different tone as he reflected on a defeat that was far more comfortable than the final margin indicated.
“From the start of the second half we were flat, we couldn’t contain or hold on to the ball up front. The life went out of the game” said the Portumna man.
“Then towards the end, there was a bit of fight and we got back into it, we were eight points down and ended up losing by three, but it’s still a loss”.
D Nally 1-3f, C Kiely 0-4f, O Kelly 1-1, C Mitchell 0-3, E Kelly 0-1, J Clancy 0-1, B Duignan 0-1.
R Banville 0-9f, L Chin 1-0, J O’Connor 0-2, R Lawlor 0-2, C McDonald 0-2, M Dwyer 0-1, C Hearne 0-1, I Carty 0-1, R Higgins 0-01, C McGuckin 0-1.
E Cleary; P Cantwell, C Burke, D Maher; D King, J Sampson, K Sampson; C Kiely, P Delaney; O Kelly, E Parlon, R Ravenhill; E Kelly, J Murphy, C Mitchell.
B Conneely for Parlon (half-time), B Duignan for O Kelly (37-40, temp), Duignan for Kiely (48), S Corcoran for Cleary (48), D Nally for Murphy (49). J Screeney for Ravenhill (55), P Clancy for E Kelly (59), J Clancy for King (63), S Bourke for Delaney (66).
M Fanning; N Murphy, L Ryan, C Devitt; G Bailey, E Murphy, I Carty; C McGuckin, Richie Lawlor; C Hearne, R Banville, J O’Connor; Cathal Dunbar, R Higgins, M Dwyer.
K Scallan for Bailey (48), Corey Byrne Dunbar for Dwyer (51), S Reck for Murphy (54), T Kinsella for Banville (54), C McDonald for Higgins (57), L Chin for Cathal Dunbar (57), C Firman for Lawlor (60), C Foley for Devitt (60), D O’Keeffe for McGuckin (63).
C Flynn (Westmeath).
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