Fr. Tom Burke's 1-18 Wexford 0-16
Needing to win to stay alive in the senior hurling
championship, Fr. Tom's seniors had their backs against the wall on Saturday
evening, and may have got some positive energy having seen their junior team
earn a semi-final place just beforehand.
With the sides having taken the break all square, Tom's got off to the
better start in the second half and had themselves in a four point lead 10
minutes in. It was not smooth sailing
however, as the back line had to do their bit with Wexford knocking on the door
late in the game and less than a goal in it.
Things felt a little more comfortable for Tom's after captain David
O'Mahoney netted with 5 minutes to go and Tom's went on to win and survive to
fight another day.
 |
| It was a keenly contested game between Wexford and Tom's Saturday evening as Tom's hung on to stay alive. |
Wexford made hay in the first half from frees conceded by
Tom's. Simon Aylward was the punisher in
chief from distance. The long range
specialist put several frees over the bar, most from well out the field near or
beyond the 65 mark. Wexford went into an
early 3 point lead, scoring 5 points to Tom's 2, 3 coming from the free taking
of Aylward. Tom's continued to
needlessly concede frees within the range of the dangerous Wexfordman, and for
a time it looked as if this would be the undoing of Tom's. However, eventally one had to go wide and it
did followed by another shortly afterwards.
The 3 point Wexford lead was erased towards the end of the half as Tom's
finished with a five point flurry to Wexford's two. O'Mahoney, Stephen Quirke - who did well from
the dead ball for Tom's, and a wonderful Shane Howley point brought Tom's back
on level terms. At the break it was 0-11
each, though Tom's would have the breeze in the second half.
 |
| David O'Mahoney makes a run at the Tom's defence. |
Tom's took advantage of that breeze and went into a 4 point
lead. Quirke did the business on the
scoring end of things, while Birr man, Barry Harding at wing back set the
example for his cohorts as Wexford came banging on the door during the latter
stages of the half. With the lead at 3
points, and a draw meaning no further progress for Tom's, there were some scary
moments for Tom's. At one stage David
Drake had what looked like a sure goal.
Drake chose to boot the ball and it bounced wide of the far post. Wexford continued to push on in the latter
stages, but on each occasion the Tom's defence held out and cleared. After Jamie Kehoe got Wexford within 2
points, Aodhan McInerney answered with a lovely score to restore the 3 point
gap. David O'Mahoney netted a lovely
goal with minutes left on the clock and the Tom's supporters could relax, a
little anyway, as the clock was now their friend. Drake pointed for Wexford to close it to 5
near the end, and 21 yard free was saved by Owen Fleming, who did well under
pressure at times during the second half.
So, Tom's still in the game and the teams will meet again on
Wednesday night with the winner advancing to next Sunday's semi-final.
Tom's: O. Fleming, D.
Lafferty, R. Burke, B. Harding, S. Coughlin, M. Deegan, S. Higgins, S. Howley
(0-2), A. McInerney (0-1), J. Carroll, C. Joyce-Power, S. Quirke, (0-13) D.
O'Mahoney (1-2). Wexford: E. Spruhan, N. McCaffrey, D. Redmond ,
M. Warnoc, P. Nolan, S. Aylward (0-10), T. Moloney, J. Keogh (0-1), T. Murphy,
D. Drake (0-4), S. O'Brien (0-1), J. Flynn-O'Connor, E. Kavanagh.
By Rory O'Donnell
No comments:
Post a Comment