Dublin beaten by Wexford to end their O’Byrne Cup defence

Wexford 1-12 Dublin 0-14

Barry O’Connor scored the crucial point three minutes into additional time as Wexford sealed a rare victory over Dublin in an exciting O’Byrne Cup encounter in Enniscorthy.

Colm Basquel opened the scoring for the visitors, but from then until the closing stages Wexford led the game. Dublin substitute Kevin Vallaghan pointed his side in front - 0-14 to 1-10 - after 70 minutes, however Wexford responded to the challenge with a Craig McCabe pointed free two minutes into additional time. One minute later O'Connor kicked over what turned out to be the winning point.

Dublin again fielded an experimental team - despite knowing they needed to win by 17 points after their midweek draw with Offaly - but they faced a young and lively Wexford side, led by the experienced Daithi Waters and Brian Malone.

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After Dublin’s early opening score, Wexford bounced back with successive points from O’Connor and a Craig McCabe free. Waters then struck for the game’s only goal after seven minutes, when he drove through the centre of the Dublin defence beating John Brian Carty with a composed finish into the corner of the visitor’s net.

Dublin had their moments but were reliant on centre-forward Basquel for their scores, along with an effort from Paddy Small, while Wexford spread out the scoring with Tiernan Rossiter, Brian Malone, Cathal Devereux and O'Connor all getting in on the act as they went in at half time leading 1-9 to 0-6.

Dublin got their first point of the second half through Small and they continued to reduce the deficit via efforts from Basquel. Wexford opened their second half account with a pointed free from McCabe after 50 minutes.

A number of substitutions breathed new life into the Dubs with an excellent score from Basquel bringing the teams level - 1-10 to 0-13 - with 10 minutes remaining. However it was Wexford who prevailed in a tense finish for a well deserved victory over the reigning champions.

Wexford: P Doyle; J Rossiter, M O'Neill, C Carty; B O'Gorman, B Malone (0-1), G Malone (0-1); D Waters (1-0), N Doyle; T Rossiter (0-1), B O'Connor (0-3), R Frayne; C McCabe (0-4, 0-3f 0-1 '45), P Curtis, C Devereux (0-2). Subs: B Brosnan for Frayne (45), J Stafford for Waters (45), D Holmes for Devereux (60), E Nolan for Stafford ( 60), D Pepper for Curtis (60).

Dublin: J B Carty; R McGowan, G Hannigan, B Howard; D Devereux, S McMahon, G Seaver; E O Conghaile (0-2), A Rogers (0-1); C Wilson, C Basquel (0-5, 0-6f), G O'Reilly (0-1); E O'Brien,S Carty, P Small (0-2). Subs: R Deegan for McGowan (ht), D Kennedy for S Carty (ht), A McGowan for O'Reilly (45), C Doyle for Hannigan (45), K Vallaghan (0-2) for Seaver (47), T Quinn for Devereux (48), N Walsh for Small (66).

Referee: D Hickey (Carlow).

Longford 1-14 Kildare 0-13

Longford booked their place in the O’Byrne Cup semi-finals with four points to spare over Kildare in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park.

Robbie Smyth scored the game's only goal in the 42nd minute; his initial effort was saved by Mark Donnellan but he followed up on the rebound.

Substitute Rian Brady made a big impact, scoring four points, with three of them coming in the closing minutes as he sealed the win for the Midlanders.

In a tight opening half the sides were level on four occasions. Longford went ahead by two in the early exchanges but Kildare got back into the game and were ahead by four in the 29th minute.

Two Sean McCormack points (one free) and a free from Smyth drew Longford level in the 34th minute but a free from Kevin Feely (his fourth) gave Kildare a slender lead going in at the break.

Longford were back in front in the 40th minute thanks to Brady’s first point and they were able to hold on from there; though Kildare did cut the gap to one in the 52nd minute

Longford: P Collum; P Fox, P McCormack, B Gilleran; M Quinn, B McKeon, P Foy; D Gallagher, C Berry; D Mimnagh, A Farrell, D Reynolds (0-1); R Smyth (1-4, 2f), S McCormack (0-5, 4f), D Carrigy.

Subs: R Brady (0-4) for Carrigy (24'), J Matthews for Smyth (47'), D Quinn for Foy (52'), D McGivney for Farrell (55'), S Donohoe for Gilleran (60'), C Lee for Reynolds (63'), P Hanley for Gallagher and J McGivney for Mimnagh (68'), K Farrell for Brady (70+3'), C Reilly for Berry, Farrell for Quinn (70+4').

Kildare: M Donnellan; P Kelly, M Kelly, M Hyland; A McDermott, E Doyle, C O'Donoghue; K Feely (0-4,4f), T Moolick (0-1); R O'Giolláin, D Flynn (0-2), P Cribbin (0-2); J Hyland, E Callaghan, E Lawless (0-1).

Subs: P Brophy for Flynn (26'), J Byrne for Doyle (30'), N Flynn for Hyland (33'), D Flynn for Brophy bc (35+4'), K Cribbin for O'Donoghue and P Connell for O'Giolláin (ht), C Healy for Callaghan, D Hyland for McDermott and F Dowling (0-2) for Lawless (45'), L Flynn (0-1) for Feely and D Slattery for Cribbin (50').

Referee: C Dwyer (Offaly)

Meath 4-19 Wicklow 0-13

Meath followed up on their laboured win over Carlow in midweek with a much more impressive outing as they also booked their passage to the last four of the O’Byrne Cup at Navan on Sunday.

The Royals controlled the match from the outset and by half-time had built up a 2-10 to 0-5 lead.

David Toner and Donal Lenihan struck for opening half goals while Graham Reilly hit three points from play.

Three of the Wicklow scores in that period came courtesy of frees from Gearoid Murphy.

The second half proved a fragmented affair as both sides rung the changes but Meath’s lead was never seriously threatened.

Their second goals arrived within a minute of each other in the closing stages from Mark McCabe and Joey Wallace.

Meath: D Gallagher; S Glynn, L Moran, M Burke; D Keogan, B Conlon, A Douglas; A Flanagan (0-1), H Rooney; M McCabe (1-2), D Toner (1-1), G Reilly (0-3); S Tobin (0-4, 2fs), D Lenihan (1-2, 0-2 fs), P Kennelly (0-2). Subs: B McMahon for Toner (31'), D Griffin for Reilly, L Ferguson for Burke, B Menton (0-1) for Flanagan, S McEntee (0-1) for Rooney, J Wallace (1-2) for Lenihan (all ht), C Dempsey for Conlon (50'), E Greene for Glynn (54'), C McGill for Dempsey (bc 70').

Wicklow: R Lambert; C Hyland, H Wilson, E Murtagh; D Fitzgerald, D Healy (0-2), J Snell; K Murphy, R Finn; T Smith, M Kenny, P O'Toole; G Murphy (0-6, 6fs), S Furlong (0-4, 2fs), C Byrne. Subs: B Kennedy for Murtagh (31'), M Jackson for Lambert, D Keane (0-1) for O'Toole, C French for Byrne (all ht), S Kearon for Wilson, P J O'Keeffe for Kenny (both 43'), G Murray for K Murphy, D Kelly for G Murphy (both 57'), C Healy for Snell (64').

Referee: S Murphy (Louth)

Westmeath 3-16 Laois 1-13

Callum McCormack helped himself to 3-3 as Westmeath got the better of Laois in their O’Byrne Cup clash in Stradbally.

In what was the second leg of this encounter, Westmeath took a one-point lead into the game following their win in Mullingar last Saturday. But they led 1-9 to 0-6 at the break, McCormack hitting 1-3 in a blistering performance in the opening half.

Laois battled back well early in the second half - with veteran Ross Munnelly scoring 1-4 in what is the start of his 16th season with Laois - but two McCormack goals in as many minutes settled the tie in Westmeath’s favour. They now play play neighbours Offaly next weekend in the semi-final.

Laois: E Keogh; S Attride, S Nerney, J Kelly; R Pigott, K Lillis, C Begley; D Luttrell, C Coss; C McEvoy, E O'Carroll, N Donoher (0-1); R Munnelly (1-4, 0-2f), A Forbes (0-1), E Lowry (0-6, 5f). Subs: C Finn for Kelly (22), D O'Reilly for Begley (ht), R Murray (0-1) for McEvoy (45), A Dowling for Luttrell (45), B Glynn for Coss (50), F Crowley for Donoher (55), R Donoher for Pigott (60), Seán Moore for Nerney (70, black card).

Westmeath: E Carberry; J Rock, S Duncan, M McCallon; J Dolan, C Slevin (0-1f), N Mulligan; A Stone, D Corroon; J Sheeran, L Loughlin (0-7, 2f), N Scally; C McCormack (3-3), K Martin (0-3), J Egan (0-1). Subs: K Fagan for Carberry (ht), A Gardiner (0-1) for Scally (ht), F Coyne for Slevin (50), S Lyster for Stone (57), G Carr for Martin (60), B Sayeh for Rock (60), G Leech for Mulligan (60), J Marshment for Egan (60).

Referee: Fintan Pierce (Offaly)