Rory O’Connor shines again as Wexford take dead rubber
Of Daire Group Rory Wexford 1 Photo A Between Niall The Brennan/sportsfile Action Wexford 2022; League March O’leary 20 Wexford And Cork In In Hurling By Park At During Match Chadwicks Cork Wexford Of Division Against O’connor Allianz
A blistering start and a furious finish proved more than enough for Wexford to claim the honours from this Division 1 Group A dead rubber on Sunday afternoon.
With both teams qualified, there was little of concrete value to play for but the net result, given events in the other group, is that the Leinster side will face Waterford in one semi-final while Cork will enjoy an afternoon in the company of Kilkenny.
Wexford had opted for a stronger side here with Cork having offered an early nod to the reduced importance of the fixture by resting a host of key players – Patrick Horgan, Darragh Fitzgibbon and Ger Mellerick among them – and ushering in fresher faces.
That showed.
Wexford’s start made a mockery of the low stakes, Darragh Egan’s side hitting 1-3 without reply in the opening four minutes with the goal coming via the boot of Rory O’Connor who is fast developing into one of the country’s best attackers and finished with 1-11.
The St Martin’s man lost his stick when catching a dropping ball in from Damien Reck, fell to the floor but still had the composure to steady himself and make perfect contact with the ball after shaking off his marker Niall O’Leary and the goalkeeper.
O’Connor was unplayable at times. He had 1-7 in the bag by half-time, four points of that coming from frees, and O’Leary was being left with an impossible task against a man who had freedom to roam and serviced with such regular supply.
Wexford were far more clinical in general than the visitors for the opening 20 minutes, by which point they were 1-10 to 0-4 to the good. They were, in fact, in danger of disappearing from sight from a Cork side that was urged to ‘wake up’ by one supporter.
They should actually have been closer at that point but Mark Fanning pulled off a superb save from a Conor Lehane shot and Shane Kingston had four wides racked up inside the first quarter, some of them from play, one from a free and another from a ’65.
Cork’s shorter style made it look like they were finding scores harder to come by but they finally found a bit of rhythm in the second quarter with Lehane leading the way and it coincided with Wexford losing their own touch in front of goal.
A clear improvement for the game as a contest, then, but it still left the home side 1-13 to 0-8 to the good at the break, at which point Kieran Kingston saw fit to make a hat-trick of changes for a 35-minute period of hurling that they played against a light enough breeze.
If that looked like a Cork side taking its foot even further off the pedal then it didn’t account for a Wexford outfit that had fallen asleep at the wheel and managed just one point in the first 20 minutes after the interval.
Cork weren’t exactly busting a gut in a game that had slowed to jogging pace but they were doing their work far more efficiently than their opponents with the result that the deficit continued to chip away as the half wore down.
Six points on the trot left them just that goal adrift but, with the digital scoreboard broken from minute one, it was a reminder from over the tannoy as to how close the teams stood that prompted a guttural roar from the crowd and an alarm call for their team.
Seven of the next eight points fell Wexford’s way with the gap out to nine points by the time Alan Connolly slipped in to find the net for Cork in the closing exchanges. Entertaining, occasionally distracting and ultimately forgettable stuff.
R O’Connor (1-11, 0-5 frees and 0-1 ‘65’); C McDonald, O Foley and C Byrne Dunbar (both 0-2); P Foley (0-2, 0-1 free); D Reck, J O’Connor, L Og McGovern (all 0-1).
C Lehane 0-6, 0-3 frees); A Connolly (1-1); S Kingston (0-3, 0-1 free); R Downey (0-2); C Joyce (0-2, 0-1 ‘65’); L Meade, J O’Connor and M Keane (all 0-1).
M Fanning; S Donohue, L Ryan, C Devitt; P Foley, D Reck, J O’Connor; D O’Keeffe, C Dunbar; L Og McGovern, O Foley, K Foley; R O’Connor, C McDonald, C Byrne Dunbar.
M Dwyer for Byrne Dunbar (49); C McGuckian for O’Connor (55); O Pepper for Dunbar (61); C Flood for Devitt (65); C Hearne for O’Connor )69).
G Collins; D Cahillane, D O’Leary, N O’Leary; S O’Leary-Hayes, C Joyce, R Downey; B Roche, L Meade; S Harnedy, S Barrett, S Twomey; S Kingston, A Connolly, C Lehane.
S Quirke for Roche, M Keane for Harnedy and C Cahalane for Twomey (all HT); J O’Connor for Kingston (45); R O’Flynn for Barrett (64);
F Horgan (Tipperary).
Wexford v Waterford
Kilkenny v Cork