Leinster SFC/ Wexford 3-12 Carlow 2-10: There were a lot less than 65,865 in Croke Park yesterday as Wexford set out to do battle with Carlow for a place in the Leinster semi-final, and the few thousand that were there expected Wexford to win well.
Yet, the neutrals that arrived as the game progressed witnessed a surprisingly tight race for the finishing line.
With some 15 minutes left to go they were neck and neck, but Wexford dug deep and fell over the line, while Carlow simply collapsed within sight of it. Along the way the momentum swung like a pendulum, as the game refused to surrender to inevitability. To say Wexford were relieved to get to the finish first is putting it mildly, but their reward now is a crack at Dublin on June 19th.
Three goals in the first 16 minutes appeared to set them up for one of those calm, untroubled passages into a Leinster semi-final, but championship football doesn't work that way in the province anymore. Carlow came back at them with remarkable vigour and determination, despite losing wing back Richard Sinnott to a second yellow card before half-time.
Unfortunately for them, however, their legs buckled just as they got level as they hit football's equivalent of the wall. Wexford added on five tidy points, three of which came from the magical boot of Matty Forde. Most Wexford supporters have lost count how many times he has saved their county, and yesterday will have added to the uncertainty.
Although ultimately a disappointing end to Carlow's challenge, they at least walked away with the knowledge that they had made an honest match of it, and given their all. Manager Liam Hayes spoke about pride and verification afterwards and no team will enjoy the prospect of meeting them in the qualifiers.
Wexford were under huge pressure to deliver a victory, and while the five-point margin wasn't comfortable, it was a victory nonetheless. Their dream start probably partly accounted for the lapses in concentration, and any team leading by seven points after 15 minutes would have had a hard time keeping their foot to the pedal.
But Wexford were moving the ball faster, and thinking faster. David Fogarty collected their first goal on four minutes, helped on by a mishandled ball by Patrick Walsh. Goal number two by PJ Banville was also partly caused by a Carlow defensive error, this time from Brian Farrell.
But there was nothing Carlow could have done about goal number three, as Forde collected a beautiful pass from David Murphy to deliver one of his trademark finishes.
That left Wexford 3-2 to 0-4. Simon Rea and Brian Carberry were proving liveliest in the Carlow forward line, but after that it was difficult to imagine how they would ever get back on level terms.
But they did - starting with Mark Carpenter's calmly finished goal on 21 minutes after a rare overlap with the Wexford defence. Two more points before half-time left the score at 3-5 to 1-7.
Playing with 14 men seemed to inspire Carlow towards a further assault on their opponents, and they looked the more capable team for the first 10 minutes of the second half. Wexford's defence was under serious threat, with Rea, Carpenter and Carberry causing problems, and only Niall Murphy truly stood up to the task. On 42 minutes, Carpenter was dragged down by in the area, and Rea sent the resulting penalty thundering into the Wexford net.
The gap was down to one point, and Hayes called in Johnny Nevin to help raise the spirits even further. Although Rea kicked a superb free on 56 minutes to level the scores for the first time since the throw-in, that was all Carlow had to offer on the day. Wexford only had to look towards Forde for the last word.
"We knew going into that game it was going to be a serious test," admitted Wexford manager Pat Roe. "We were on a hiding to nothing being out-and-out favourites. They seriously tested us, and maybe their sending off was a factor later in the game. With 15 minutes to go the pace of the game showed on the 14 men, so it was a factor without a doubt.
"But the game was there for us to win a lot earlier. We lost our way a little. Once they drew level we were very worried, and we were losing some battles, especially in the half forward line. So we're still very pleased with the result, because all we wanted was the win."
Hayes' admirable optimism was hardly dented by the result: "I don't think losing the man made much of difference. Our main problem was the early concession of three goals. We came out very confident and one of things I told them was to stay calm in the first 15 minutes. When you're three goals down after 15 minutes it's a big hurdle. But I think we proved a lot to ourselves. At half-time we said we'd get level, and we did that. And I'm proud of them for doing that. But all the lads did a ton of work and the legs just went in the end."
WEXFORD: 1 J Cooper; 4 N Murphy, 3 P Wallace, 2 C Morris; 5 D Breen (0-1), 6 D Murphy, 7 P Curtis; 8 N Lambert, 9 D Fogarty (1-1); 10 R Barry (0-1), 11 D Foran, 12 S Curran (0-1); 13 PJ Banville (1-0), 14 P Colfer (0-1), 15 M Forde (1-6, two frees). Subs: 19 D Kinsella for Lambert (21 mins, inj), 21 J Darcy for Morris (43 mins), 18 J Hegarty for Foran (54 mins).
CARLOW: 1 J Brennan; 3 B Farrell, 2 C McCarthy, 4 P Cashin; 5 J Hayden, 6 L Murphy, 7 R Sinnott; 8 P Walsh, 9 T Walsh (0-1); 10 B Carberry (0-1), 11 R Walker, 12 P Hickey (0-2, both frees); 13 S Rea (1-6, four frees, a penalty), 14 M Carpenter (1-0), 15 M Brennan. Subs: 17 P Kelly for Farrell (half time), 29 J Nevin for Walker (43 mins), 23 W Power for Hayden, 25 J Byrne for Hickey (both 65 mins), 28 B Kelly for Rea (68 mins).
Referee: J McKee (Armagh).
