Moran’s late, late goal earns senior hurlers a draw with Wexford

LEINSTER SHC ROUND-ROBIN ROUND 2

DUBLIN 1-22 WEXFORD 2-19

Sean Moran was Dublin's late, late savior as his goal from a 20-metre free with the last puck of the clash in the fifth minute of added time earned his side a share of the spoils in this Leinster SHC round-robin duel at Parnell Park.

The Dubs led by five points at one stage of the second half, however, the Slaneysiders rocked their hosts with goals from Liam Og McGovern and Jack O'Connor and looked set for glory in the final moments.

Having lost their opening game to Kilkenny a loss would have left Mattie Kenny's in a very tricky position but the draw leaves them in the hunt with games to come against Carlow and Galway.

Moran's low free, following a foul on Liam Rushe, found its way to the Wexford net despite the presence of seven Slaneysiders back on the line.

Wexford settled first and were three points up before Conal Keaney opened Dublin' account in the fifth minute.

Five Dublin points in-a-row put them in good stead late in the opening half with Cian Boland to the fore for the home side.

The St Oliver Plunkett's/Eoghan Ruadh man finished the day with three points from play in an encouraging performance from a stylish player whose senior intercounty career has been seriously hampered by injury.

But by the break Wexford had rallied with four points without reply to leave the sides level, 0-11 each.

The closest either side came to a first half goal was a low effort from Conal Keaney from 23 metres, his effort was parried by keeper Mark Fanning but Keaney was alert and snapped up the rebound to angle over.

Dublin moved five clear thanks to the deadball accuracy of Paul Ryan, who also hit two points from play overall.

The Ballyboden St Enda's forward Ryan also had a good sighting of goal with his side 0-18 to 0-14 clear.

A long angled delivery by Tomás Connolly was gathered by Liam Rushe and he placed Ryan whose pull was saved by keeper Mark Fanning.

In the 55th minute the duel turned in Wexford's direction when Dublin coughed up possession in their own defence and Davy FItzgerald's men transferred the sliotar slickly with Liam Óg McGovern coming in field to arrow an unstoppable shot to Alan Nolan's net.

Seven minutes later Wexford struck for their second goal with Lee Chin powering through before finding Rory O'Connor, who fired to the net.

But there was to be late, late drama with Moran's free earned a draw for the Dubs.

"Look, when it went down to the last puck of the game, we were delighted to get the draw," said Dublin manager Mattie Kenny.

"We seen him (Seán Moran) doing it for Cuala before on Paddy's Day in Croke Park and he came up trumps again today.

"But I suppose the feeling of the players and the feeling of ourselves was we were in a winning position half-way through the second half," added Mattie.

"(Mark) Fanning made a really, really good save when Liam Rushe caught a really good ball and put in Paul Ryan. If that ball had gone in, it was game over at that stage.

"So we're disappointed that we didn't go on and win the game in that period."

SCORERS - Dublin: P Ryan 0-10 (0-7f, 0-1 '65'), S Moran 1-2 (1-1f), C Boland 0-3, T Connolly, C Keaney 0-2 each, C Crummey, F Whitely, E Dillon 0-1 each. Wexford: L Chin 0-11 (0-8f, 0-2 '65'), L Óg McGovern 1-1, C McDonald (0-2 sideline), S Murphy 0-3 each, A Nolan 0-1.

DUBLIN: A Nolan; T Connolly, E O'Donnell, P Smyth; S Barrett, S Moran, C Crummey; S Treacy, D Sutcliffe; C Boland, C Keaney, E Dillon; F Whitely, L Rushe, P Ryan. Subs: D Treacy for Keaney (49), J Malone for Boland (60), C Conway for S Treacy (63), R Hayes for Whitely (67).

WEXFORD: M Fanning; D Reck, L Ryan, S Donohoe; P Foley, M O'Hanlon, A Nolan; K Foley, S Murphy; D O'Keeffe, L Chin, L Óg McGovern; C McDonald, J O'Connor, R O'Connor. Subs: C Dunbar for Nolan (54), D Dunne for McDonald (66), H Kehoe for J O'Connor (67), S Reck for Murphy (73).

REF: F Horgan (Tipperary).