Wexford fend off second half Dublin fightback

DUBLIN 0-17 WEXFORD 1-17

Wexford held off a second half Dublin comeback to book their berth in the Bord na Móna Walsh Cup semi-finals with this victory in Hollymount on Thursday night.

With eight minutes to go a Donal Burke free had the sides level but it was the hosts who found the winning scores down the home straight with Richie Kehoe and Lee Chin (two) on target.

After leading by five at the break the hosts pushed it out to a six-point cushion with four minutes of the restart.

However, Dublin then took over to reel off six unanswered points.

A Ryan O’Dwyer free started the chain of scores with the very impressive Chris Crummey, Niall McMorrow (free), Crummey again, a Donal Burke free from halfway and one from play from Fergal Whitely bringing the sides level 1-12 to 0-15 with 13 minutes remaining.

Wexford edged in front again but Donal Burke’s second free had the sides level yet again setting up an exciting conclusion.

The Dubs trailed by five points at the break, 1-11 to 0-9.

Podge Doran grabbed the only goal of the opening half in the 19^th minute coming at the end of a purple spell for the Slaneysiders as they opened up a 1-8 to 0-5 advantage.

Three points in-a-row through Conor McDonald, Lee Chin and Paul Morris gave Wexford a six-point lead after the sides had been level in the 12^th minute following Donie Fox’s second point for the Dubs.

Niall McMorrow was Dublin’s top-scorer during the opening 35 minutes when hitting three points while Caolan Conway chipped in with two from play.

One of the best scores of the opening half came in the 24^th minute when Chris Crummey launched over from long-range.

SCORERS – Wexford: C McDonald, L Chin (0-3f) 0-5 each, P Doran 1-2, P Morris 0-3, R Kehoe, B Carton 0-1 each. Dublin: N McMorrow 0-4 (0-1f), C Crummey, D Burke (0-3f) 0-3 each, C Conway, D Fox (0-1f) 0-2 each, C Bennett, F Whitely, R O’Dwyer (0-1f) 0-1 each.

WEXFORD: M Fanning; W Devereux, L Ryan, J Breen; S Donohue, M O’Hanlon, D O’Keeffe; S Murphy, B Carton; D Reck, D Redmond, L Chin; P Morris, C McDonald, P Doran. Subs: E Martin for Reck (36, inj), R Kehoe for Devereux (49), C Dunbar for Carton (54), A Nolan for Redmond (62), K Fay for Morris (63), H Kehoe for P Doran (70).

DUBLIN: C Dooley; P Smyth, S Barrett, C Robinson; C Crummey, L Rushe, S McGrath; B Quinn, C Conway; D Fox, N McMorrow, T Connolly; F McGibb, A Moore, C Bennett. Subs: R O’Dwyer for Moore (25 inj), C Maher for McGibb (28 inj), A Quinn for Connolly (ht), F Whitely for Fox (45 inj), D Burke for Conway (49), Fox for McGrath (50).

REF: P Burke (Kilkenny)