Kilkenny 5-25 Wexford 0-16
Wexford brimmed with ambition, but Kilkenny’s defending provincial and All-Ireland champions ruthlessly exposed the purple-and-gold’s multitude of shortcomings with a crushing 24-point destruction of the neighbours in a totally underwhelming renewal of Leinster senior hurling championship rivalries amid the cauldron of Nowlan Park on Sunday.
The greatest indictment of Wexford’s inadequacies was that the 19,134 crowd began to drain from the ground with a full 22 minutes remaining after Ger Aylward – a former pupil of Good Counsel New Ross – had completed his hat-trick to put the game well beyond Wexford’s reach at 5-16 to 0-14 on an afternoon when Wexford erred on far too many of the fundamentals, and most especially with the use of the sliotar.
In truth, for all Wexford’s genuine progress last summer, they are still only learning the ropes in terms of how to genuinely mix it with the best, and the deficiencies which clearly remain in Wexford’s game – as had also been obvious against even Westmeath – were rudely exposed by the most efficient breed of hurlers of the modern era, as Wexford are left with a massive challenge to get their heads around this devastating experience and mount a strong revival through the Qualifiers as they did 12 months ago.
A crucial difference though is that they had been competitive in their Leinster championship exit to Dublin last year before clipping the wings of Clare and Waterford. However, the weight of last Sunday’s defeat and also the manner of it – with thorough improvement required – imposes a considerable burden of responsibility upon Wexford to quickly right the wrongs which Kilkenny seized upon with clinical precision as the reigning Kings of Hurling embarked upon their latest voyage with clear intent.
Wexford, with the wind aiding them, did lead three times within the first nine minutes, but there was something distinctly off about their game even from an early stage, and Kilkenny, who utilised a two-man inside forward line in order to create sufficient space to cause extreme havoc, stung Wexford when finding the town-end net twice between the 10th and 13th-minutes to help power ahead by 2-4 to 0-3. Wexford actually fumbled a possible goaling chance shortly before Kilkenny inflicted the first major incision, when Michael Fennelly foraged possession from a pack and fed Richie Hogan, last year’s ‘Hurler of the Year’, who batted past a hapless Mark Fanning. Wexford hardly had a chance to regroup before Ger Aylward rifled to the net after Hogan was granted an ‘advantage’ by the referee, and that contributed towards a seven point differential. The Wexford ‘keeper averted Kilkenny finding another goal shortly afterwards, while the challengers dodged another bullet when Kilkenny had a goal disallowed for an infringement.
Wexford responded rather encouragingly to those early rumblings as they claimed five of the next six points while Liam Óg McGovern and David Redmond also went close to goaling, with McGovern getting on the end of a partially blocked point-scoring attempt by Conor McDonald to threaten the net only to see his effort from point-blank range rising over the crossbar. And Redmond raced onto a cross from Diarmuid O’Keeffe before marking yards from the left and unleashing a low angled drive on goal which was deflected at the expense of a fruitless ’65, although he might have been wiser to have spotted Conor ‘Mac’ ready to pounce inside. Nevertheless, together with ‘Ogie’ McGovern’s point, Andrew Shore (with a superb strike from his wing-back berth), David Redmond and Ian Byrne (2 frees) weighed in to give Wexford renewed heart as they closed to within 2-5 to 0-8 after 27 minutes. Unfortunately Kilkenny quickly knocked any freshening wind from Wexford sails though when the magical Richie Hogan combined with TJ Reid to cause mayhem which led to Reid forcing a penalty. And Reid dusted himself down to ram to the net, while after the sides had shared the next four points – including two Ian Byrne frees – Lee Chin did well to get back and deny Richie Hogan a potential goal with a last-ditch challenge, as Wexford reached half-time adrift by 3-7 to 0-10.
While making modifications to the attack for the new half – with Podge Doran and Harry Kehoe replacing Daithí Waters and Shane Tomkins respectively – Wexford continued to lack cohesion, and Conor McDonald certainly couldn’t disguise his irritation with the poor quality service. In fact, Kilkenny almost goaled seconds after the re-start when TJ Reid forced a ’65, which he pointed to help the black-and-amber increase the margin to 3-12 to 0-13 by the time Kilkenny counter-attacked with force on 48 minutes for Reid to capitalise upon a Wexford defender slipping as he managed to release to Ger Aylward at the far post for Aylward to net a second personal goal (4-12 to 0-13). The defiance was there, but it wasn’t strong enough, and another Wexford error was punished by Aylward on 53 minutes as his hat-trick-clincher helped to further dispirit Wexford, whose support began to depart at 5-16 to 0-14. Typically, Kilkenny remained business-like to the finish as Wexford endured flashbacks of last year’s numbing championship exit to Limerick by the very same margin of 24 points.
Unlike then though, Wexford have a chance to quickly offer a reassuring response this time when they face Cork in the Qualifiers on Saturday week, July 4th.
Kilkenny – Eoin Murphy, Paul Murphy, Joey Holden (capt.), Jackie Tyrrell, Pádraig Walsh, Kieran Joyce, Cillian Buckley (0-1), Michael Fennelly (0-1), Conor Fogarty, Walter Walsh, Richie Hogan (1-5), John Power (0-2), Ger Aylward (3-5), TJ Reid (1-7, 1-0 penalty, 0-1 ’65, 0-3 frees), Eoin Larkin (1-3)
Substitutes: Kevin Kelly (0-1) for John Power; Shane Prendergast for Jackie Tyrrell; Robert Lennon for Paul Murphy; Mark Kelly for Eoin Larkin.
Wexford – Mark Fanning, Eoin Moore, Liam Ryan, Ciarán Kenny, Andrew Shore (0-1), Matthew O’Hanlon (capt.), Lee Chin, David Redmond (0-2), Daithí Waters, Diarmuid O’Keeffe, Shane Tomkins, Ian Byrne (0-11, 9 frees), Liam Óg McGovern (0-2), Conor McDonald, Paul Morris.
Substitutes: Kevin Foley for Paul Morris; Aidan Nolan for Eoin Moore; Pádraig Doran for Daithí Waters; Harry Kehoe for Shane Tomkins; Éanna Martin for Andrew Shore; Garrett Sinnott for Liam Óg McGovern.
Referee – Diarmuid Kirwan (Cork).
