FT Wexford 2-12 Sligo 1-12.
Very important win.
Poor geography in wexford park
HT Wexford 1-10 Laois 0-10.
FT Wexford 2-21 Laois 1-18.
Wexford 2-21 Laois 1-18.
Wexford:
Fanning;
Ryan, O’Hanlon, B Kenny;
Rossiter, Chin, C Kenny;
Devereux, H Kehoe (0-1);
O’Keeffe (0-2), Tomkins (1-3), Byrne (0-10 [0-6F, 0-1 '65]);
Jacob (0-1), G Moore (1-0), McGovern (0-2).
Subs: Morris (0-2) for Chin (inj), McDonald for G Moore, E Moore for C Kenny, Jordan for Devereux, Redmond for H Kehoe.
A bit of a mixed bag from Wexford today with passages of excellent hurling and well worked scores interspersed with sloppy play at times too. Laois played with a strong breeze in the first half and went 3 points up early on before Wexford got going via an Ian Byrne free and two points from play by Shane Tomkins.
The first half goal came when O’Keeffe dispossessed his opponent and passed to Ian Byrne who floated a nice ball over the top to Jacob to collect in the corner. He cut in towards goal, handpassed to Moore who arrived on his shoulder and Moore rifled it past the keeper.
Chin picked up an injury early on and had to be replaced despite trying to play on for a while - seemed to be a rib injury. O’Keeffe went to wing back in the rejig with Ciarán Kenny moving inside to centre back. Morris assumed the centre forward position with Tomkins moving to the wing and Morris scored a couple of points in the lead up to half time.
McGovern, Harry Kehoe, Jacob and Byrne picked off other first half points and the points from play were generally well worked with good movement and passes to better placed colleagues. McGovern was also narrowly wide with a goal attempt and Byrne was accurate from his placed balls. Fanning also made a decent save at one stage too and Laois had a man sent off for an off the ball pull across Kehoe when it was 1-10 to 0-8 but they scored the last two points of the half.
Half Time: 1-10 to 0-10.
We started the second half with Rossiter as spare man (it’s always Rossiter as spare man, always) but we took ages to get into our stride. Laois seemed to be playing with only 4 forwards and adopted more of a possession and running style. We didn’t get to grips with it for a while and we need to be much sharper tactically in these situations because they actually drew level with us while we struggled to get our shape and work out who should be playing where.
Fanning had no chance with a ground stroke hammered past him on the bounce after Rossiter and Ciarán Kenny had chances to clear in the build up. O’Keeffe went forward and struck over two smashing points from wing back and Byrne pointed another raft of frees but Laois invariably responded with a score or two anytime we pulled one or two clear and there was a bit of restlessness in the crowd. It never looked like we were going to lose it but we had a few spells where we lost our way collectively somewhat and Laois were wasteful with a couple of frees and other chances.
That said, the players kept trying to work the ball to a man in a better position with crisp stick passes rather than launching hit and hope deliveries and McGovern got a really good point to put us back in front when he came all the way back to take a short puck out from Fanning, played a give and go with O’Keeffe, took it on at pace and launched it over from distance. Tomkins and Byrne (2) then knocked over decent points too and Tomkins sealed the win with a late goal after Conor McDonald put him through.
Fanning - grand;
Ryan - looks like a great prospect;
O’Hanlon - solid;
B Kenny - fine;
Rossiter - okay, a couple of mistakes;
Chin - not on long enough;
C Kenny - same as Rossiter;
Devereux - busy and involved but unlikely to figure here in the championship;
H Kehoe - okay;
O’Keeffe - not one of his better displays but showed glimpses of sheer class;
Tomkins - very good, looking a really impressive player. Very strong in possession and can win primary possession and finish;
Byrne - very good today, his best game of the league so far by a distance;
Jacob - was held fairly well, nice to see him popping the ball around to better placed team-mates.
Moore - took the goal brilliantly but the full back was on top otherwise;
McGovern - not as prominent as last week but made some classy interventions like his clubmate O’Keeffe.
Good also to see the likes of Eoin Moore, Conor McDonald and David Redmond continue their recoveries from injury. Hopefully Chin isn’t badly injured - he definitely seemed to be winded and holding his rib and crumpled down on a couple of occasions after striking the ball following his injury. I saw the physios doing that leg extension thing they do when testing for bad knee injuries though so I hope it isn’t serious.
A hip injury for Chin, according to Wexford GAA on twitter. He seemed to be in a lot of pain so I doubt he’ll be ready for Cork next weekend. I can empathise with him what with my own high profile hip injury.
Bandage, based on what you’ve seen so far what’s our strongest starting 15 for championship assuming everyone apart from Shore is fit?
Wexford 2-12 Sligo 1-12
Wexford:
Roche;
Malone, Molloy, Furlong;
Flynn, Breen, Carty (0-1);
Waters (0-2), Kehoe;
Rossiter, Brosnan (1-1, 0-1F), O’Regan (1-1);
Lyng (0-3, 0-1F), Banville (0-1), O’Grady (0-2).
Subs: Tierney for Carty (black card), Holmes (0-1) for Rossiter, Tubritt for Banville.
Wexford were dominant early on in this game and raced into a 1-3 to 0-1 lead. The goal came when Malone made a dispossession in midfield and the ball was worked into Banville who laid it off to the onrushing O’Regan who rifled an excellent finish across the keeper into the top corner from 14 yards out. We should have been more ahead given the midfeld platform provided by Waters but we were quite wasteful and kicked a few sloppy wides.
Gradually Sligo started to get back into the game and they actually won a penalty when Furlong misjudged a high ball and David Kelly popped a handpass over Molloy’s head to Adrian Marren. Roche came out and was adjudged to have taken Marren down but he dived to his left to make a good penalty save. Sligo got a goal themselves when their midfielder burst through on the run (Waters was caught not tracking) but he basically threw the ball 10 yards ahead of himself (the way Kilkenny hurlers used to do with the sliotar) and brushed past a couple of weak challenges before soccering it (copyright Kevin McStay) past Roche into the roof of the net from close range.
It was actually 1-3 apiece but we kicked the last 3 points of the half to put a fairer reflection on the scoreboard. Waters got two very good points in that first half but the forward line had been inaccurate and a number of passes had gone astray.
Half Time: 1-6 to 1-3.
We pushed out to 1-9 to 1-5 in front early in the second half. O’Grady got a good score from the right with the outside of his left foot and Banville kicked a nice score too before he was forced off with an arm/wrist injury. But Sligo were hanging around and reduced the arrears to 1 with a run of 3 points without reply before Brosnan scored the crucial goal. He was playing right half forward at this stage and collected a pass down the line and turned his man and soloed towards goal. He wasn’t met with a challenge and kept going before drilling a brilliant low finish across the keeper into the bottom corner.
We held on fairly comfortably in the last 10 minutes (as opposed to last week) and we should have won by more really. John Tubritt was denied by a point blank save by their keeper during this spell.
Roscommon and Cavan have streaked away but we’re one of 5 teams on 4 points with Offaly stranded at the bottom.
It’s hard to call, @Mac, because we still have the likes of Garrett Sinnott to come back too and Moore and Redmond are only in the early stages of their recoveries. I think Shore is hopeful of being fit for the championship opener also. I might defer until our league campaign is over - we have that guaranteed quarter final now too and that should be a home game as they made the rule that teams who only have 2 home games out of 5 will get a home quarter final where possible. Cork away and a good test at home against a 1A side (and potentially another game or two after that) should leave us better positioned to know a likely championship starting team.
I’m guessing main positives so far would be the likes of Byrne, Tompkins and O’Keefe really establishing themselves? Was Kevin Foley on the panel today?
Kevin Foley took Jack Guiney’s place on the bench today. Actually I’m going to list a team/squad below:
Fanning;
Moore, O’Hanlon, Rossiter;
Shore, Chin, C Kenny;
O’Keeffe, Redmond/H Kehoe;
Tomkins, McGovern, Sinnott/Byrne;
Jacob, Guiney/McDonald, Morris / G Moore.
We also have the likes of Liam Ryan, Willie Devereux, Eanna Martin, James Tonks, Bobby Kenny, Richie Kehoe and (hopefully Mossy Waters) as defensive options.
There’s a good bit of versatility in the squad too with players capable of comfortably switching between positions further forward.
Have they changed the format of this around again? Wasn’t last year, just one team up from Division 1B and they played in the semi final. How many up is it this year?
It’s still only one up - the team on top after the last round of fixtures next week - but the top four qualify for the quarter finals against the top four in 1A. 1 v 4, 2 v 3 etc.
I thought Laois were fairly good. Like Wexford, not just lorrying the ball forward any more. Worked it down the pitch well and were cohesive and well organised. Full back and centre back were strong and they stuck to the task well with 14. They made a few changes too (from selected team) and seemed to be trying out a couple of less experienced players.
What about the red card? Did you see the pull? Midlands 103 commentators didn’t whinge too much about it so I’d imagine it was deserved.
No, I didn’t see it at all.
Fanning;
Rossiter, O’Hanlon, B Kenny;
Ryan, Chin, C Kenny;
O’Keeffe, Kehoe;
Tomkins, McDonald, Byrne;
Jacob, Guiney, McGovern.
McDonald and Guiney for Devereux and Gary Moore. Chin is selected despite sustaining the hip injury last week. PJ Nolan and Podge Doran are named in the substitutes for the first time in the league following their return from injury.
Is that Shane o hanlons brother playing full back bandage?