Hurlers put up a good fight but Chin's injury time goal seals Wexford win
Despair for Kildare players as Lee Chin celebrates his injury time goal at Cedral St Conleths Park Photo: ©INPHO/Andrew Paton
Kildare’s return to Leinster Senior Hurling Championship action after a gap of 22 years proved a positive one despite eventually succumbing to Wexford by eight points at Cedral St Conleth’s Park on Saturday night.
The Lilywhites showed they won’t be overawed at this level by staying with the Slaneysiders until the final twenty minutes before the greater experience of their visitors saw them pull away, and an injury time goal from Wexford’s star man Lee Chin put a final flourish on the scoreline.
Kildare manager Brian Dowling afterwards pointed to their lack of scoring efficiency, particularly in the first half when they shot nine wides, while it is also fair to say there was a degree of frustration with the decision-making of Tipperary referee Michael Kennedy.
A decent-sized crowd saw Kildare give as good as they got in the opening half. Playing with the wind into the Kilcullen End, and with both sides struggling at times on a heavily-sanded pitch, Dowling’s side trailed by a point or two for most of the half, not helped by those wides, but a wonderful goal from Jack Sheridan five minutes from the interval saw the Lilywhites briefly go ahead by two points (1-6 to 0-7) before Wexford brought it back level by the break with two points.
Wexford, though ahead 0-5 to 0-3 after the first quarter, did not score from play until Diarmuid O’Leary did so in the 18th minute, relying largely on frees from Lee Chin, while Tom Power, starting instead of Jack Travers, got Kildare’s opening point before David Qualter landed two frees.
By the half-hour mark two points from Paul Dolan and one from Cian Boran brought Kildare to within a point (0-6 to 0-7) and the local crowd began to dream when Conan Boran’s long ball was caught majestically by Muiris Curtin in the penalty area.
He offloaded to Sheridan who seemed to take an age to weigh up his options before deliberately and exquisitely steering his shot into the bottom left-hand corner for his 60th senior goal for his county.
Conor Hearne and Jack O’Connor responded to level for Wexford with three wides in a row a disappointing finish to the half for Kildare.
They opened the second half with a Sheridan point straight from the throw-in but Wexford began to take command and three in a row from Chin including his first from play saw them gain confidence. Although Simon Leacy responded, the pattern of the second half was set with the visitors getting more space and three more points followed in succession from Ross Banville and two from Chin to make it 0-15 to 1-8.
Sheridan looked to be going for goal again on 52 minutes when Gerry Keegan fed him but his driven shot just cleared the crossbar to make it a three-point game.
Kildare’s frustration grew as they picked up three yellow cards in three minutes for Curtin, Sheridan and Cian Boran, to add to an earlier one for Daire Guerin and they needed Paddy McKenna to clear off the goal line to prevent a Wexford goal in the 53rd minute.
Wexford drew five clear with four of the next six points (Chin with two frees sandwiching two from play from Damien Reck and Simon Roche with Cathal McCabe and Keegan on target for Kildare) and by the 67th minute they were 0-22 to 1-12 ahead thanks to points from play from James Byrne, Banville and Chin, Kildare’s only further reply coming from a Sheridan free.
Another Sheridan free made it a six point game as they entered normal time but former All Star Chin burst through with substitute Richy Hogan in his wake to send an unstoppable shot high to McKenna’s net to put the game to bed, bringing his tally to 1-12.
Another Sheridan free left Kildare eight behind at the finish with another big test to come against Dublin in Parnell Park next week. The Dubs were surprisingly held by Offaly in their group opener, a result that may have implications for Kildare down the line with Offaly considered by many to be the team Dowling and co. would be targeting for a win that could be enough to seal their place in the top tier championship for a second year.
That’s all ahead of them but for now they can take some comfort in the knowledge that they were highly competitive against a Wexford team who will have designs on reaching the knockout stages. An improvement in their scoring efficiency and perhaps a rub of the green from referees and they will feel they can still cause a surprise or two at this level.
Mark Fanning 0-1 (f); Darragh Carley, Conor Foley, Shane Reck; Damien Reck 0-1, Richie Lawlor, Diarmuid O’Leary 0-1; Conor Hearne 0-1, Eamon Wickham 0-1; Ross Banville 0-2, Lee Chin 1-12 (9fs,1’65), Jack O’Connor 0-1; Kevin Foley, Jack Redmond, Simon Roche 0-1. Subs: Rory Higgins for Redmond 45, Cillian Byrne for O’Connor 50, James Byrne 0-1 for Roche 62, David Clarke for Carley 66.
Paddy McKenna; Conan Boran, Rian Boran, Dan O’Meara; Liam O’Reilly, Cian Boran 0-1, Simon Leacy 0-1; Paul Dolan 0-2, Cathal McCabe 0-1; Daire Guerin, Gerry Keegan 0-1, David Qualter 0-2 (2fs); Muiris Curtin, Tom Power 0-1, Jack Sheridan 1-5 (0-2fs). Subs: Darragh Melville for Qualter 56, Conn Kehoe for O’Meara 59, Richy Hogan for Power 65, Tim Ryan for Curtin 68.
Michael Kennedy (Tipperary).
