Tipperary 3-14 Wexford 3-16
Wexford, who fielded 2 American born players in their starting
lineup, earned a place in the Sheehan Cup final after a close encounter with a
good looking Tipperary side. The game
ebbed and flowed and could have gone either way, but it was Wexford who
finished with back to back points to seal the deal in the final minutes.
 |
| Wexford and Tipp played a well contested game Sunday. |
The first 30 minutes were entertaining. There was some good hurling from both sides,
and some well taken scores. Liam
Moloney, lining out at center forward for Tipperary had a first half haul of 5
points from frees, while his Wexford counterpart, Shane Ryan accounted for
three points from long range frees. Mark
Kavanagh and Sean Nally looked strong for Tipperary at wing forward and
midfield respectively - Kavanagh pointed well from out on the wing on two
occasions - though Moloney was Tipps big dangerman when on the ball. Wexford were a match for their opponents and
played the ball well. With the teams
tied at 6 points each Dan Sweatland took advantage of a rebound off the keeper
and netted from just outside the small square for Wexford. The goal was soon erased, Eoin Moriarty was
on hand to double a rebound from a good save by keeper Dara O’Callaghan into
the Wexford net. Tipp could have added
to their tally, but efforts at goal, rather than taking the points, from close
range frees went for naught, and Moloney put the last two over the bar to put
Tipp into a 1-8 to 1-7 half time lead.
Those frees were to prove costly in the end.
 |
| Brendan Phelan was effective after being introduced in the second half. |
The second half was just as close as the first. Tipp added to their lead soon after the
restart with points from Moloney and Eoin Moriarty, however Wexford, who just
introduced Brendan Phelan and Kieran O’Dea to the fray, opened up a chink of
daylight between themselves and their opponents, although the game was always
in the balance. The Wexford back line
did a good job absorbing balls played into their direction, and with a lot of
scoring options in their forward line looked like they may just hold the slight
edge in the end.
It was a Jamie Keogh goal half way in that set the
platform. Keogh’s low shot slipped under
James Maher and into the net, turning a 2 point Tipp lead into a one point
Wexford advantage. Conor Sheehan and
O’Dea added points and a goal stood between the sides and Wexford now had a
lead to work with. Tipperary managed to
level matters with a Sean Delaney drive into the back of the net, but it was
immediately canceled out by a goal strike from substitute Michael Orpen, just 10
seconds between the scores. Wexford had
added another point when Tipperary won a penalty after Sean Nally was pulled
down, and it was dispatched with little fuss by Moloney. Wexford were hanging on to their lead and
ended well with points from Sean Delaney and Sweatland to see themselves into
the final against Fr. Tom Burke’s.
Tipp: J. Maher, S.
McGarr, C. Neville, P. Moriarty, J. White, S. Fortune, C. Dempsey, S. Nally, M.
Moriarty, L. Moloney, M. Kavanagh, S, Delaney, E. Moriarty. Wexford:
D. O’Callaghan, J. McCarthy, D. Walsh, G. Lundy, T. Moloney, S. Ryan, J.
Kehoe, E. Flaherty, D. Sweatland, E. Kavanagh, R. Sludds, D. Binden, K. Joyce.
By Rory O'Donnell
No comments:
Post a Comment