Two late goals knock The Heath out of Leinster
Two late goals from Wexford champions St Mogue's of Fethard saw The Heath's bid for Leinster glory fail to take flight in New Ross on Saturday.
The Laois champions had gone toe-to-toe with the south coast side for most of the game, but in a closely fought affair, Morgen Ellis' goal in the 54th minute was a massive score. It put the Wexford men three clear and despite The Heath responding with the next point, a second goal in the 59th minute finally settled the contest.
The Heath 0-11
St Mogue's Fethard 2-9
The Heath had breezed through the Laois IFC playing a fast-paced brand of football, breaking at speed from defence and hitting their inside forward line. That fluency never really got into full swing here, with credit going to St Mogue's for that as they did a fine job of curtailing The Heath's strengths.
Playing with wind advantage in the first half, The Heath took an early lead when Leon Holland popped over a free in the fourth minute. James Phelan added a 45 soon after and they were the only scores in the opening ten minutes, as The Heath took a while to find their rhythm after a month in dry dock, while St Mogue's were playing for a ninth weekend in a row and needed a bit of time to get going as well.
Cian Byrne finally got them on the board in the 11th minute with a free, but James Phelan quickly cancelled that out soon after. Leon Holland (free) and Eoin Whelan then traded scores before St Mogue's hauled themselves level, as Wexford senior footballer John Tubritt and Whelan once more made it 0-4 each.
The Heath were conscious they needed to make the most of the wind at their backs and two quick-fire Leon Holland frees put them back in front. Tubritt managed one more for Fethard before the whistle sounded, with The Heath 0-6 to 0-5 ahead at the interval.
St Mogue's started the second half strongly, as Tubritt, Mikie Dwyer and Jake Molloy all pointed to push them two ahead. Jimmy Nerney stopped the rot for The Heath with a good score, before the only real flashpoint of the game.
The aforementioned Nerney was bending down to pick up the ball after it rolled over the sideline when he was hit late by Fethard player Cian Byrne, sending The Heath defender crashing into the boundary fence. Tempers flared briefly and Byrne was lucky to escape with just a yellow card.
The incident seemed to spur the best from The Heath and, roared on by a sizeable travelling support, they hit the next two points through Gary Roe and Daithi Carroll to retake the lead heading into the last ten minutes.
Byrne then brought Fethard back level before the struck for those two late goals, as late points from Daithi Carroll and Conor Booth (free) weren't enough for The Heath to book their place in the next round.