Saturday Aug 21 - Junior Hurling Sem-Final: Fr. Tom Burke's v Wexford

Fr. Tom Burke’s 2-8 Wexford 0-12


Tom’s trailed for almost all of this junior hurling semi-final, and the first lead that they held was in injury time. Trailing by four points early in the second half, Tom’s dug deep and set themselves up for a dramatic injury time winning goal, scored by Robbie Croft, who had entered as a substitute.

Two Tom's men under the puckout.

Wexford held the advantage in the early exchanges. Dave Power’s free-taking was good and Wexford took advantage of frees blown their way. Power opened the scoring with a free, and that was followed by two James Foley strikes from play. Tom’s leveled the scores with a goal from Robert Griffin. A long ball from Aidan Staunton hit Griffin on the edge of the square and Griffin finished well. However, with Wexford’s defence clearing their lines well and the midfield moving the ball well, the Brighton side soon restored their lead. Niall Maloney and Dave Power put three points over the bar between them. Eugene Cummins put Tom’s lone point of the first half over the bar with a fine effort, and at the break it was Wexford by two point, 0-6 to 1-1.

Tom’s enjoyed the advantage of a slight breeze in the second half, but it was Wexford who struck first to start the second period. Colm Kearns put a nice strike over the bar right out of the gates and Dave Power made it a four point Wexford lead soon afterwards. The sides traded scores, David Hession put a 65 over the bar for Tom’s and Colm Kearns answered for Wexford. Tom’s raised their efforts and with 20 minutes to go sensed that a win was there for the taking. Gary Hannifey and Robbie Croft had entered the fray for Tom’s. Hannifey got very involved at wing forward, while Croft’s major contribution would come at the very end. A point from Mark Waldren and another long free from Hession cut Wexford’s lead in half, and Robert Griffin reduced it to one. Tom’s drew level after Dave Power had restored Wexford’s lead to two, Hession and Hannifey the responsible parties. After Dave Power put Wexford one to the good, and yellow cards were issued to Mark Gordon and Mark Waldren, it looked as if Tom’s would come up short. Tom’s had one last chance. Dermot Fox came out from goal and dropped a long bomb into the Wexford square. Croft grabbed the breaking ball and amid a crowd of defenders, booted the ball into the back of the net. Tom’s hung on for the last couple of injury time minutes and advance into the junior hurling final where they face Tipperary.

John Joe O'Neill clears for Wexford.

Tom’s: D. Fox, L. Guinan, M. Markham, M. Gordon, E. Cummins (0-1), A. Staunton, P. Staunton, K. Mooney, D. Scullane, D. Hession (0-4), J. Dooley, R. Griffin (1-1), M. Waldren (0-1). Subs: G. Hannifey (0-1), R. Croft (1-0). Wexford: E. Spruhan, JJ O’Neill, P. Nolan, T. Murphy, J. Hanley, S. Gallagher, C. O’Caireallain, P. Grace, N. Maloney (0-1), C. Kearns (0-2), C. McArdle, J. Foley (0-2), D. Power (0-7).


By Rory O'Donnell