Wexford dominate in Tullamore but fail to progress

Wexford 0-16
Offaly 0-13


Wexford produced a very solid display to defeat Offaly in Tullamore yesterday but it was not enough as UCD's win over Laois ensured that they made an early exit.

Still, it was a satisfactory afternoon’s work by Wexford who controlled this game for long periods and were more comprehensive winners than the final scoreline suggests.

Wexford played most of the best football that emerged here and they really should have been out of sight well before the final whistle.

It was a very disappointing performance by the home side who struggled to get out of the low gears and while they could not be faulted for effort, they were off the pace here.

With the wind on their backs, Wexford dominated the first half but didn’t show this on the scoreboard. They kicked way too many wides for their own good, 10 compared to one from Offaly in that opening half, and this allowed the home side to hang in there.

With the game coming up to half-time, Wexford were in bother when they only led by 0-8 to 0-5 but three late points from Rory Quinlivan, two frees, gave them a 0-11 to 0-5 interval lead and was a much better reflection of proceedings.

Wexford continued to dominate at the start of the second half, registering the opening two points to pull eight clear. A mixture of Wexford relaxing and Offaly digging deep saw the losers crawl back into it but they never looked like getting the goal they needed and the final result was a just one.
Dublin Institute of Technology claimed a five-point victory over Carlow IT in their O'Byrne Cup Group C clash at St Margaret's yesterday afternoon.

WEXFORD: S Roche; S Gaul, G Molloy, C Carty; B Malone, M Furlong, Rossiter; Cillian Kehoe (0-1), P Byrne; B Brosnan (0-4, 0-2 frees), G Cullen, Colm Kehoe (0-2); C Lyng (0-1), J Holmes (0-1), R Quinlivan (0-7, 0-5 frees). Subs: PJ Banville for Quinlivan (40 mins), B Go'Gorman for Cullen (49 mins), R Dempsey for Lyng (54 mins), K Day for Holmes (70 mins).
OFFALY: A Mulhall; D Brady, P McConway, D Corbett; S Delaney, M Brazil (0-1), N Darby; J Brickland, R Allen (0-1); G Guilfoyle, N Dunne (0-4, 0-3 frees), N Smith; K Casey (0-1), J Maloney, N McNamee (0-3). Subs: J O'Connor for Corbett (half-time), J Maher (0-3) for Delaney (half-time), L Kelly for Guilfoyle (56 mins), N Geraghty for Casey (62 mins), J Devery for Brickland (66 mins), DE Kelly for Smith (69 mins).
Referee: D Fahy (Longford).