National Football League Division One B/Wexford 2-13 Armagh 2-6: Wexford came from so far down the field to win yesterday's encounter, watched by 4,500 spectators, it made Armagh's trip home look like a short hop. The journey will hardly be made any easier for Joe Kernan's team by the knowledge the match was set up for them at half-time but they wilted dramatically in the face of a Wexford team who reshuffled their personnel and straightened out their tactics.
So revolutionary was the turnaround Armagh lost the second half by 2-9 to 0-2 and a result that seemed inconceivable at the break got Wexford's season off to a great start.
Both sides had reasons to be hopeful starting this campaign. Wexford's best showing for decades in last year's league and championship has created optimism whereas Armagh won the county's first under-21 All-Ireland and fired hopes the ageing of the current team mightn't after all be the end of the line.
There were plenty of mistakes in the early stages. Wexford's bright opening kept them in front for the first 20 minutes. But they also missed good chances, dropping four kicks short and losing possession very easily. Their best attacks were based on running moves from deep that stretched Armagh but too often the recourse to medium and long-range kick passing was inaccurate.
At the back they were wobbly under high ball. Ironically some of the most menacing examples of this came from mis-kicked attempts at scoring, as Armagh's own precision was fairly lacking and they managed twice as many wides as their opponents.
An example of this came in the 21st minute when Ronan Clarke's shot for a point tailed away and dropped for Paul Keenan to celebrate just one week on the Armagh panel by fisting the ball into the net to nudge his side ahead 1-2 to 0-4.
The situation had degenerated for Wexford by the interval when a spilled ball in defence was rapidly recycled into a scoring opportunity for Brian Mallon, nominally a corner forward but mostly playing around the middle. He took the goal well for a six-point lead, 2-4 to 0-4, at the break.
"We had to win primary possession around midfield and close them down in their own half," was Wexford manager Pat Roe's half-time prescription. "We'd talked about playing the ball into space rather than into the man and if you've the support runners coming behind, you're creating more space. But primary possession is important."
Roe's switches played a major role. Brendan Doyle steadied things at centrefield where Philip Loughran and John Toal had been in control and Redmond Barry's introduction added some pace to the attack and facilitated the game plan that turned the match.
"I thought the first few minutes of the second half were crucial," said Kernan afterwards. "We got the ball up to the forwards and gave away a stupid free for lifting the ball. Then they came back and scored three points, which gave them the confidence. If we had scored the difference would have been seven points and we might have weathered the storm."
Those early Armagh misses gave Wexford space to build the comeback. Darren Foran and two frees from Matty Forde halved the deficit and gave the home team momentum. Forde had been involved in a traffic accident on the way to the match and whereas it wasn't serious, it delayed his arrival and according to his manager "rattled him a bit". So not surprisingly he didn't have a vintage day by his own standard even if his total of 1-6 was customarily impressive.
His goal in the 51st minute was the pivotal score. Wexford had closed to within a point when Paddy Colfer hit a shot not unlike Clarke's in the first half for Armagh and this time it was the players' footballer of the year who tipped the ball in for a goal.
Kernan felt a two-point deficit shouldn't have derailed his team as comprehensively as it did but the final quarter was all Wexford. Diarmuid Kinsella moved to centrefield, won a lot of ball and attacked with it to such effect he kicked three points for a total of 0-4.
Roe will also have been pleased with the work rate of his defence where again the limitless energy of Colm Morris and Niall Murphy turned awkward situations into menacing attacks.
The coup de grace came in the 69th minute as goalkeeper Ciarán McKinney was yellow-carded for fouling Colfer in front of goal. Kieran McGeeney took over in goal but Wexford captain John Hudson's penalty was confidently converted for a goal.
Andy Mallon picked up another yellow in injury-time but it was all rather academic by then. Roe was as happy with the two points as anything. "Particularly when you're playing at home. We can't afford to drop too many points at home and that gets us off to a good start."
WEXFORD: J Cooper; N Murphy, P Wallace, C Morris; D Breen, D Murphy, S Cullen (0-1); J D'Arcy, P Colfer; D Fogarty, D Kinsella (0-4), J Hegarty; D Foran (0-1), J Hudson (1-1, goal a penalty), M Forde (1-6, points all frees). Subs: R Barry for Fogarty (half-time), B Doyle for D'Arcy (half-time), K Kennedy for Hegarty (56 mins).
ARMAGH: C McKinney; A Mallon, J McNulty, P McCormack; C McKeever, K McGeeney, A McCann; P Loughran, J Toal; G Swift, P McGrane, P Keenan (1-1); S McDonnell (0-4, two frees, one 45), R Clarke (0-1), B Mallon (1-0). Subs: M O'Rourke for Swift (53 mins), E McNulty for McCann (59 mins), P Wilson for McKinney (yellow card 69 mins), K McElvanna for A Mallon (yellow card, 71 mins).
YELLOW CARD: Wexford: None. Armagh: C McKinney (69 mins) replaced by P Wilson; K McElvanna (71 mins) replaced by A Mallon.
Referee: B Tyrell (Tipperary).
