Wexford are 5/2 but I have been advised to stay away from it. I’ll make a final decision at 7.21 and possibly ring up Paddy Power from the ground. Let’s sew it into these capital cooonts.
surely that is overpriced bandage? are dublin very good at that level?
Dublin are indeed very good and Wexford aren’t terribly good.
Smashing win for the capital: 3-12 to 2-14 in a one-sided game.
a hammering in anyone’s language.
Offaly beat Kilkenny in the other semi
A real one point tonking alright.
Offaly winning is a huge surprise.
Smashing game tonight. Pretty gutted to lose at the end after the fantastic second half performance but I don’t begrudge Dublin their win either. It’s a shame for us though that our inept start cost us in the end.
We were 2-0 to 0-0 down after 3 minutes. A long ball over the top was gathered by O’Dwyer their full forward, who was excellent, and he raced through and scored. The a slack Richie Kehoe handpass was intercepted by Diarmuid Connolly, taking a rest from football for the night, and he burst through, had a fresh air shot out of his hand but then buried a cracking ground shot into the bottom corner off his left hand side.
Talk about being shellshocked. The rest of the first half was tit-for-tat and it was 2-8 to 0-7 at half time. Some of our senior panelists were struggling a lot. Eoin Quigley (Raparees not St Martin’s) was getting completely outplayed by McCrabbe and Clive Lawlor was in lots of trouble at full back. PJ Nolan got 2 points from play but was floating around on the periphery of the game when we needed him to be a catalyst for the comeback. Centre back Tomas Waters had gone off injured early on too but his replacement Frank Cullen was more than adequate and did well.
The positives were the performance of Tommy Dwyer who was having a smashing game in midfield on Dublin senior, Joey Boland, as many of our lads sank all around him. Richie Kehoe was beginnig to come into the game and the Oulart duo, David Redmond and Nicky Kirwan, were dangerous down the right hand side of the attack.
Ciaran Lyng was introduced at half time fresh from his exploits with the footballers on Sunday and went to wing forward with Redmond moving to midfield and Quigley making way. Straight away there was a new urgency and intensity about Wexford as they launched into tackles and showed a determination and will to win that was completely lacking in the first half. Ironically it was Dublin who got on the scoredboard first though after three personal wides by Lyng and at 2-9 to 0-7 5 minutes into the second half things looked ominous for us.
Then we stormed into the game. A run of 1-2 without reply in the next 5 minutes turned the game on its head with Nicky Kirwan soloing through, drawing the last defender and laying the ball off to Garrett Sinnott to rifle home from close range. At this stage the hitting was hard and the hurling was tough. The referee began to grate on the Dublin supporters who thought they were being hard done by but he made a number of questionable decisions that probably affected both teams equally and wasn’t the reason for the final outcome (and wouldn’t have been had it ended in a draw or Wexford victory either).
A run of frees brought Dublin ahead by 2-12 to 1-10 with about 12 minutes to go and then Wexford responded again in a really impressive manner. Richie Kehoe who had a cracking second half fired over a long range free and then Clive Lawlor drove forward out of defence, played a one-two with PJ Nolan and knocked over a superb and inspirational point from a difficult angle. Almost immediately Nolan himself, who had moved into centre forward on Tomas Brady, raced away and pointed from under the stand on the right hand side. Another fantastic point and game on at 2-12 to 1-13 with 6/7 minutes to go.
All the time Tommy Dwyer was continuing to have an absolutely incredible game in midfield for Wexford. The lad’s workrate was nothing short of sensational and the amount of ball he won back that he had no right to was wonderful. He was also very constructive in possession too.
However, in fairness to Dublin they were able to breathe easily for a short while when they got a superb goal. McCrabbe won the ball in midfield, carried it forward and played a smashing pass to Carton, who gathered it at full pace and raced in on goal from the inside right position and cracked home a rocket into the far corner. 3-12 to 1-13 with 5 minutes left.
Again Wexford wouldn’t go away. Dwyer pointed a free and then hunted down a Dublin defender soloing out with the ball, won it back for the umpteenth time and was fouled himself. He dropped the free in and somebody (don’t know who) flicked it to the net. 3-12 to 2-14 entering the last minute with the ref having announced 2 additional minutes.
The last 3 minutes then were incredibly tense. The ball went from end to end with Brady coming up with a few really important catches and clearances. Wexford didn’t mange to work the ball into a scoring position during this time but the tackles were flying in with bodies being put on the line. Diarmuid Connolly emerged from a ruck in his own half back line and was soloing down the right wing when the ref blew the full time whistle.
Credit to both teams for the game. Can’t think of much better to be doing on a Wednesday night than watching a cracking game like that. Wexford will rue their first half performance and Dublin might perhaps feel a little lucky to hold out but they’re a fine team and congratulations to them.