In a bewildering afternoon that invoked echoes of an Alex Ferguson saying, Carlow ended up being soundly defeated, leaving spectators puzzled over the unpredictable nature of championship results. This happened just a week following their evenly-matched contest with reigning champions, Kilkenny.
In the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, Wexford triumphed over Carlow with a convincing 26-point lead, even though it’s quite evident that they are not vastly superior to Kilkenny. When Kilkenny welcomes Wexford at Nowlan Park next weekend for the Leinster semi-final, this will be unmistakably demonstrated.
Regarding the quarter-final game, Wexford coach Keith Rossiter stated, “It’s back to the traditional, penultimate, knockout stages now, and we’ll discover how far we can go next weekend.” His whole team decimated Carlow in this match.
Although John Michael Nolan’s expulsion for Carlow in the 65th-minute due to a second booking somewhat simplified Wexford’s job, it didn’t significantly affect the outcome. Having scored their first point within the first 17 seconds and their first goal in the 90th-second, Wexford quickly took control and led 1-16 to 0-4 points merely 22 minutes into the game.
Contributions from Conor McDonald, who secured two goals and wound up with 2-3 from the game, and champion scorer Lee Chin, who propelled 13 scores on the field, were crucial. Furthermore, Rory O’Connor demonstrated his prowess by landing five points from play, becoming one of 14 different players for Wexford to score.
With a nearly completely fit squad and consecutive championship wins under their belts after defeating Galway in Round 3, Wexford’s season is gaining momentum. After an unexpected Round 2 loss, Rossiter remained optimistic, reflecting on the promising performance the team showed in Round 1 against Dublin.
He mentioned his foreknowledge upon reaching the town of Carlow. “We were prepared for them after seeing what they did to Kilkenny last weekend. We had briefed our lads thoroughly, knowing well that we were up against six robust forwards and decent backs. Nothing comes easily here, so we had to put in the effort, outperforming them was the key, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Wexford held the lead at the break, with scores of 1-21 to Carlow’s 1-7. Conor Kehoe had managed to pull a 26th-minute goal back for the home team.
For Carlow, the second half was about regaining momentum, not necessarily about saving a game that was already slipping out of their grasp. This was in preparation for the relegation play-off with Antrim scheduled for the following weekend. Previously, Antrim defeated Wexford, securing two points to Carlow’s single point. Ergo, all Antrim requires would be a tie at Belfast’s Corrigan Park for the Joe McDonagh Cup holders to return to the second tier.
On the other hand, Wexford harboured higher hopes, displaying exemplary quality at different points in the game. Their substitutes, Séamus Casey, Kevin Foley, Charlie McGuckin, and Tomás Kinsella, managed to score 0-5 between them post their arrival on the field.
Rossiter mentioned, struggling to recall a moment when they were not dominant, “What I did find a bit unacceptable, honestly, was that around the 20th to 25th minutes, we seemed to slack off a bit.”
The WEXFORD team consisted of M. Fanning (0-1); L Ryan (0-1), S. Reck, M. O’Hanlon; E. Ryan, D. Reck (0-2), C. Foley; C. Hearne (0-2), R. Lawlor (0-1); L. McGovern (0-1), C. Dunbar (0-2), R. O’Connor (0-5); C. McDonald (2-3), L. Chin (0-13, 10f), M. Dwyer. The substitutes included S. Casey (0-1), K. Foley (0-1), C. McGuckin (0-1), S. Donohoe, and T. Kinsella (0-2).
In the Carlow team, B Tracey served as the goalkeeper. The defence team consisted of P Doyle, D Wall, C Lawlor, T Lawlor, K McDonald and N Bolger. The midfield was held by R Coady, who scored 0-1 and J McCullagh. In the forward line, F Fitzpatrick, C Nolan – contributing 0-4, and C Kehoe who scored 1-2 were included. M Kavanagh (0-5, 5f), JM Nolan, and P Boland (0-1) were also part of the team. In the course of the match, there were substitutes: James Doyle replaced McCullagh at halftime, J Kavanagh came in for Fitzpatrick after 44 minutes, S Treacy came on for James Doyle after an hour and one minute, and Jake Doyle swapped with M Kavanagh at 69 minutes. The match was overseen by Referee T Gleeson, hailing from Dublin.