Wexford wasteful in front of goal in Westmeath win
HIGH WIDE TALLY: Wexford manager Darragh Egan shakes hands with Westmeath manager Joe Fortune. Pic: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile
There was no repeat of the shock draw between the two teams in last year’s Leinster championship round robin tie in Mullingar in Division 1A of the National Hurling League at the same venue on Sunday afternoon, with a wasteful Wexford side not flattered by an 11-point win against a battling Westmeath outfit.
Shane McGovern opened the scoring after a minute, but Lee Chin – who was somewhat inconsistent from placed balls and was withdrawn before the second half due to a tight hamstring – converted two frees to nudge the visitors ahead.
Westmeath, under the tutelage of Wexford native Joe Fortune, went on to score some outstanding points from play, none more so than a sublime overhead pull from 2022 All Star nominee Killian Doyle in the 13th minute, and they deservedly led by 0-05 to 0-03 with 13 minutes elapsed.
The Slaneysiders were wasteful in the first half shooting nine wides, some of them from good positions. However, they still did enough to keep the scoreboard ticking over, with five of their starting six forwards getting on the scoresheet before the interval.
A Chin free in the 31st minute opened up the game's first three-point deficit, but a point apiece from Niall O’Brien and Doyle (a free with the last puck of the half) left the scoreboard at the interval reading: Wexford 0-11 Westmeath 0-10.
Rory Higgins became the sixth Wexford forward to score when he doubled his team’s lead within three minutes of the resumption of play. However, Darragh Egan’s men continued to be profligate and they shot three of their ten second half wides in the opening five minutes.
The visitors still led by two points (0-13 to 0-11) when Conor McDonald netted in the 45th minute, after Liam Óg McGovern’s initial shot had come back off the crossbar. However, the home team responded in the best possible fashion when Owen McCabe scored their first goal of 2023, after firing blanks in three Walsh Cup games and the heavy loss to Clare.
Wexford replied almost instantly when impressive half-time sub Ross Banville (who successfully took over the free-taking duties from Chin) flicked the sliotar to the net from close range in the 51st minute, thereby more or less removing the possibility of a surprise result. From that juncture right to the end, the winners found scores a little easier to come by without ever looking likely to score a third goal.
Afterwards, Egan described Wexford's display as "nitty-bitty". He added: "We did well in the first 20 minutes of the second half, but we have an awful lot to work on."
He conceded that his side's wide tally was very high but clarified that "any day you have almost 50 shots at the target, well I'm happy with that. We'd be in a much worse place if we had 35 shots at goal. Overall, our half forward line was very good".
His opposite number Fortune had some positives to take from the performance. "We were horrendous by times in Ennis last week, but I thought today at half-time we had a right chance of winning. I don't do excuses, but the calibre of player we are missing at the moment is making the league tough for us. Overall, we improved a lot on last week and there was no dropping of heads at any stage."
R Banville 1-3 (0-3fs), C McDonald 1-2, L Chin 0-5 (4fs), C Hearne 0-3, C Byrne, R Higgins, C Dundar, C McGuckin 0-2 each, I Carty, L Óg McGovern 0-1 each.
K Doyle 0-9 (8fs), O McCabe 1-0, N O'Brien 0-2, R Greville, J Boyle, S McGovern, D Glennon 0-1 each.
M Fannning; I Carty, D Reck, C Devitt; D Clarke, C Foley, S Donohoe; D O’Keeffe, L Chin; C Hearne, L Óg McGovern, C McGuckin; C Dunbar, C McDonald, R Higgins.
R Banville for Chin (inj., h-t), K Foley for O’Keeffe (54), J O’Connor for Carty (57), C Byrne for McGovern (59), M Dwyer for McDonald (67).
N Conaty; C Shaw, T Doyle, J Galvin; A Craig, R Greville, D Egerton; S McGovern, D Glennon; S Clavin, K Doyle, N O’Brien; O McCabe, J Boyle, K Regan.
C Doyle for Regan (50), J Bermingham for Clavin (56), S Williams for Glennon (63), G Greville for Craig (63), P Maxwell for McGovern (68).
S Cleere (Kilkenny).
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