13 man Wexford claimed a 2-14 to 0-18 win over a spirited Dublin side on Saturday night at Croke Park.
Davy Fitzgerald’s side edged a game which saw 3 players dismissed. Two of these were for Wexford, Conor McDonald (straight red) and Shaun Murphy (double yellow). Eoghan O’Donnell was sent off on two yellow cards. The opening was fairly even, both sides going score for score. Oisin O’Rorke who scored in the opening 10 minutes was replaced by Paul Ryan due to injury. Ryan proved accurate from frees. Rian McBride was also on target raising two white flags. Lee Chin and Paul Morris kept Wexford in touch with frees.
Wexford then got a massive boost before the break. Mark Fanning finding the net from a penalty on 31 minutes to put them ahead 1-04 to 0-06. Paul Morris extended the lead but it was all Dublin then till the break. McBride, Donal Burke and Paul Ryan all pointing to give Dublin a 0-10 to 1-05 lead the break.
Paddy Smyth took a few belts, but Conor McDonald’s was nowhere near the worst of them.
Seems a harsh red cardpic.twitter.com/qxvjYtnOrF
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) February 22, 2020
On the resumption Dublin nudged a point ahead but Johnny Murphy was rather getting impatient and the cards start to flow. Conor McDonald was sent off on a straight red card for connecting with Paddy Smyth. However, it was Dublin who were ahead though 0-14 to 1-08 thanks to another couple of frees from Ryan. Rory O’Connor was impressive for Wexford though as he knocked over some nice scores from play, before Shaun Murphy was sent off on a second yellow card. Eoghan O’Donnell was then sent off after what the referee adjudged he pushed Jack O’Connor into the advertising hoardings. Rory O’Connor then knocked over a free to cut the gap to one.
Ronan Hayes landed a 72 minute score. However, Rory O’Connor then hit a crucial score. O’Connor soloed through before finishing past Sean Brennan. Cian Boland had a goal chance but his effort went wide. Kevin Foley then hooked Ronan Hayes which almost certainly was going to be a point to level up the game. Paul Morris knocked over the last two scores of the game one from play and one from a 65.
Dublin: S Brennan; P Smyth, E O’Donnell, J Madden (0-1); C O’Callaghan, D Gray, S Moran; C Crummey (0-1), J Malone; D Burke (0-1), R McBride (0-2), D Sutcliffe; O O’Rorke (0-1f), R Hayes (0-2; 0-1f), D Keogh.
Subs: P Ryan (0-8f) for O’Rorke (14); C Boland (0-1) for Sutcliffe (43); E Dillon (0-1) for Keogh (53); A Dunphy for O’Callaghan (58); T Connolly for Madden (63)
Wexford: M Fanning (1-0 pen); C Firman, L Ryan, Joe O’Connor; D Reck, M O’Hanlon, S Murphy; K Foley, D O’Keeffe (0-1); A Rochford, A Nolan, L Chin (0-1f); P Morris (0-7; 0-4f, 0-1 65), M Dwyer, R O’Connor (0-4; 0-1f).
Subs: P Foley for K Foley (blood, 30-35); P Foley (0-1) for O’Hanlon (ht); L Og McGovern for Rochford (ht); Jack O’Connor (1-0) for Chin (47); C McDonald for Dwyer (48); C Dunbar for Nolan (69)
