Two late frees seals win for Dublin over Wexford

Two late Dublin frees converted by Donal Burke, the second a monster effort from his own half, eventually broke Wexford's brave challenge.

Mon, 08 May, 2023 - 07:39

Paul Keane

Dublin 1-22 Wexford 0-23

Joint top of the Leinster SHC table, Wexford beaten and qualification for the knock-out stages of the All-Ireland SHC virtually secured. This is surely the vision Micheal Donoghue had when he took over a previously stuttering and stumbling Dublin last August.

Donal Burke's 13 points, which included two late insurance scores, and a first-half goal from Cian O'Sullivan, were central to Saturday's win over a misfiring Wexford side that blasted 19 wides.

Billed as the play-off for third position in the table, and the final qualification spot for the All-Ireland series, Dublin have placed themselves in a strong position.

Even if they lose their remaining games to Kilkenny, on Saturday week at Nowlan Park, and Galway, on May 28 at Croke Park, they will still finish in third spot if results elsewhere pan out as expected.

From Wexford's perspective, they have to beat Westmeath and then overcome Kilkenny, admittedly at Wexford Park, to potentially save their summer.

Not that Dublin manager Donoghue, in charge of Galway when they were surprisingly beaten by the Dubs in 2019 and knocked out of the Championship, is taking anything for granted.

"No, most definitely not," said Donoghue when asked if he believed Dublin were now through to the All-Ireland series. "I know from first hand experience that you don't count your chickens. Every manager of every team is the same - there's five games in the competition and we have only three down. We'll recover now and work really hard going into the last two and see where we are at that stage.

"Look, we're going okay but these results are behind us now. Everything is about what's in front of us and that will be our focus."

Dublin never trailed though the sides were level after 38 minutes and again in the 74th as Wexford picked off the points - Lee Chin struck 0-8 - to remain competitive throughout.

Dublin led by five at the hour mark but, inspired by Rory O'Connor, Wexford outscored the hosts by 0-7 to 0-2 in the next 14 minutes to wipe out the deficit.

In the middle of that blitz, Mikie Dwyer was denied a Wexford goal by a stunning flying save from Dublin goalkeeper Sean Brennan.

Two late Dublin frees converted by Burke, the second a monster effort from his own half, eventually broke Wexford's brave challenge.

The only downside for Dublin was Ronan Hayes' latest hamstring injury. He came off after eight minutes and was replaced by Paul Crummey who scored 0-2.

It was a big success overall for Dublin who gambled by playing the game at Croke Park instead of Parnell Park. Only 9,125 turned up to see it but the experience gained from a big win there could yet prove hugely significant.

Wexford, meanwhile, need to tune in their scoring radar if they're to have any hope of advancing from the Leinster group.

"There were some horrendous wides," acknowledged Wexford manager Darragh Egan. "They weren't all shots under pressure. Ultimately we had 51 shots and we scored 23 points or something like that, it is just not good enough."

Damien Reck, just back in the team, aggravated a foot injury and went off early in the second-half.

"Lee Chin is obviously carrying a knock, Liam Ryan is carrying a knock, Matthew O'Hanlon is carrying a knock," said Egan. "Look, I am genuinely sick of talking about injuries. We have 15 that we put out. Everybody is carrying knocks. There is nobody fully fresh going out to play Championship matches."

Dublin scorers: D Burke (0-13, 10 frees); C O'Sullivan (1-1); P Crummey (0-2); P Doyle, D Sutcliffe, C O'Leary, M Grogan, C Burke, S Currie (0-1)

Wexford scorers: L Chin (0-8, 6 frees); R O'Connor (0-5, 3 frees); C Dunbar, O Foley, C McDonald (0-2); C Devitt, R Lawlor, J O'Connor, S Donohoe (0-1).

Dublin: S Brennan; E O'Donnell, P Smyth; C Burke; C Donohoe, P Doyle, D Gray; M Grogan, C O'Leary; D Sutcliffe, D Burke, C Boland; C O'Sullivan, A Considine, R Hayes.

Subs: P Crummey for Hayes (8); S Currie for Considine (51); D Power for Grogan (59); F Whitely for Boland (64); D Purcell for O'Sullivan (74).

Wexford: J Lawlor; S Donohoe, L Ryan, Reck; K Foley; C Devitt, M O'Hanlon, D Reck; C Dunbar, R Lawlor; J O'Connor, L Chin, O Foley; L Og McGovern, R O'Connor.

Subs: J O'Connor for D Reck (42); C McDonald for R Lawlor (44); M Dwyer for J O'Connor (49); I Carty for Ryan (55); Ross Banville for Dunbar (71).

Referee: T Walsh (Waterford).