Darragh Egan: 'Limerick kept us in it and we did well to get it over the line'

And in a slog of a match, they will benefit from the intensity presented to them by Wexford, who might not have had the physique in the middle third but never stinted from the grapples and tussles.

The character shown by the home side is exactly what new manager Darragh Egan would have wanted first day out. That it was accompanied by a result was most pleasing even if there was a touch of fortune about Mikie Dwyer’s game-defining 59th-minute goal when it appeared he overcarried — a point which John Kiely didn’t raise afterwards though he did question its legitimacy when asked.

It was a remarkably different Wexford display to the faltering one against Dublin in last weekend’s Walsh Cup final.

“Our intensity was at shocking levels last week against Dublin, we needed to build on that today, which we did,” said Egan.

“We made it a battle but there are going to be times when making it a battle isn’t going to be enough.

“We are going to have to hurl on top of that. It was a low-scoring game, Limerick kept us in it and we did well to get it over the line.”

Under fire against Dublin, Wexford’s full-backs were their best line in Croke Park and here again they were excellent, keeping Aaron Gillane and Pat Ryan — and their replacements, Seamus Flanagan and Oisín O’Reilly — scoreless.

Gillane, who also missed a couple of relatively easy frees in the first half when Limerick racked up 10 wides and picked up a yellow card for two dangerous swipes, was hooked at half-time but his replacement, All-Star Flanagan, didn’t fare much better.

“We didn’t get enough of our flow going,” said Kiely. “We didn’t get enough passing movements going and that continuity piece from the middle third into the final third, the ball broke down too many occasions in that sector.”

Backed by a gale in the first half, Limerick’s one-point advantage, 0-7 to 0-6, was always in danger of not being enough. It wasn’t until the 33rd minute that they actually went in front when Diarmaid Byrnes arrowed over a long-ranger following a brace of Gearóid Hegarty points.

It was a period when David Reidy worked tirelessly for Limerick and the likes of Hegarty and William O’Donoghue were advancing, but the end product simply wasn’t there. For 23 minutes, Wexford led and had the only sniff of goal when Conor McDonald’s shot was denied by Nickie Quaid.

Limerick were two up when Dwyer struck following a free that dropped short. Conor McDonald fired over his first point in the 63rd minute and Conall Flood sent over the insurance score on 68 minutes.

“Limerick are probably only getting their year started at present,” said Egan. “All the rest of us are on catch-up at the moment and, again, we have a group of lads in there that are starting into a project.

“We’re only six weeks into it and we need to build up physically. But also from a hurling education point of view, we really need to build it up over the next few weeks and we’re heading to Ennis next Sunday. It’s going to be a serious, serious battle after they got bet by Cork yesterday.”

Kiely did take consolation from how his full-backs fared. Barry Nash and Dan Morrissey were defiant figures in the second half. “They were under the cosh for long, long periods there, there was a lot of high ball coming in, lot of really good ball coming in and to be fair, they won a lot of primary possession but we still managed to get a block in, win the ball back, and when we had it in possession, we used the ball well coming out of defence and we worked the ball out well.”