Galway U20s survive Wexford battle to come away with the win

BATTLE: Galway were mightily relieved to hear the full-time whistle in this Leinster under 20 hurling championship encounter. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Leinster Under 20 hurling championship

Galway 1-20 Wexford 1-17

Galway were mightily relieved to hear the full-time whistle in this Leinster under 20 hurling championship tier 1 round 3 game at Netwatch Cullen Park on Friday night.

They seemed to have an edge all through but could never shake off a Wexford side who were in the game at the very end when it looked at times as if they were going to be overrun.

Against the wind, Wexford started best and were rewarded with points from Shamey O’Hagan and Corey Byrne Dunbar. Galway midfielder, Rory Burke, converted two frees and Colm Molloy’s snapshot turned the game around. While it took Galway quite some time to transfer their possession into scores, they gradually eased into a 0-6 to 0-3 lead with Burke converting a brace of frees at the end of the first quarter.

The Model side dug in and three points in a row from O’Hagan, Darragh Carley and Sean Rowley levelled matters. In fact a Darragh Farrell strike put Wexford back in front but they couldn’t build up any momentum.

Galway seemed to have that edge and when Darren Shaughnessy dropped a long shot into the small square, his half-forward colleague, Reuben Davitt, may have got the merest of touches and the sliotar just crossed the line.

It was certainly not a well-crafted three-pointer but Galway had taken a lucky break and went into the interval leading 1-12 to 0-11. It could have been more as Wexford created a purple patch for themselves scoring the final three points of the half through Byrne Dunbar, Luke Roche and Luke Murphy.

Just as he had been doing in the first half, Burke snaffled two early second half points, one from a placed ball and the other from play. When Galway full forward, Greg Thomas, fired over another point the Westerners looked to be cruising. At one stage they led by eight points.

Wexford finally began to make things happen. Full-forward, Luke Murphy, took possession just inside his own half and made a burst through the Galway defence. As he began running out of space, he cleverly off-loaded to Redmond who fired home.

Now Wexford had the momentum and four times in the final quarter there was only three between them. Galway, having made the long journey to Carlow, now had to work harder than ever to see out the game. It wasn’t pretty at the end. Plenty of mauls with the sliotar lost in a sea of legs. It suited Galway. They ran down the clock and came away with the win they just about deserved.

Scorers for Galway: R Burke 0-12 (10fs), G Lee 0-3, R Davitt (1-0), C Molloy 0-2 , G Thomas, R Killilea, T Lee 0-1 each.

Scorers for Wexford: J Redmond 1-5 (0-4fs), S O’Hagan, D Farrell, C Byrne Dunbar, C Byrne 0-2 each, L Murphy 0-1, D Carley 0-1, L Roche 0-1, S Rowley 0-1.

Galway: D Walsh; K Hanrahan, M Walsh, A Nolan; S O’Hanlon, C Travers, P Burke; T Leen, R Burke; R Davitt, G Lee, D O’Shaughnessy; D Murphy, G Thomas, C Molloy. 

Subs: R Killilea for Murphy (38), D Davoren for Travers (52), L Leen for Davitt (55), O Lohan for Thomas (62).

Wexford: D Mahon; L Schokman, D Kehoe, C O’Tuama; S Roche, D Carley, D Purcell; L Roche, S Rowley; S O’Hagan, C Byrne Dunbar, J Redmond; T Brohan, L Murphy, D Farrell. 

Subs: C Byrne for Roche (36), JJ Twamey for Brohan (43), D Purcell for O’Hagan (52), C Walsh for Murphy (56), E O’Meara for Kehoe (58).

Referee: David Hughes (Kilkenny).