'Immensely soft' frees help Wexford beat game Kildare side in Leinster Championship opener

Kildare's first Leinster GAA Senior Hurling Championship outing ended in a, perhaps flattering to the visitors, eight-point defeat after a hard battle with Wexford in Cedral St Conleth's Park. The visitors pulled clear of The Lilies in the closing 10 minutes or so to secure a first round victory.

It was a helter-skelter first half from first minute to last. Scoring began with a Lee Chin free and began a pattern of Kildare conceding them to the visitors in the first half.

The Lilies responded with a score beautiful in its simplicity. Paddy McKenna found 18 year old Tom Power in space before the Championship debutant spun to knock over a fine score.

Wexford got three more frees, two of which were converted by Lee Chin and one by goalkeeper Mark Fanning. On the award of the final free in that sequence, the visiting fans, despite having only scored from set-pieces to that point, jeered the referee in reference to a nonsense penalty claim moments earlier. It was a reaction that reeked of hubris. 

Trailing 0-4 to 0-1, Kildare got back to within one thanks to two David Qualter frees that did plenty to settle the seemingly jumpy Lilies, who did over-extend on a few occasions in their pursuit of possession. 

The gap remained a single score thanks to heroics on the 15-minute mark from Rian Boran who threw his body, stick and safety in front of Conor Hearne to stop a certain goal for the Wexford midfielder. Lee Chin knocked over the resulting ‘65.

There were battles on the ground and in the air constantly in a physical, when it was allowed to be, first half. Cathal McCabe, operating well back from his listed centre-forward, was superb in his new role. Although his absence at the top of the pitch meant Kildare struggled to win attacking ball at a greater rate.

A Diarmuid O’Leary point gave Wexford an 0-6 to 0-3 lead after 18 minutes.

Paul Dolan answered for Kildare with a lovely score fired between the posts from a tight angle in front of the stand. Cian Boran then made this a one-point game again with a point from the far side of the field.

Eamon Wickham pushed Wexford back two clear before Paul Dolan pointed again for Kildare as the game edged towards the half hour point 

Just when Kildare breaks up front were starting to be lacking, a long ball into the forward line was fetched from the skies brilliantly by Muiris Curtin who offloaded so quickly that he must have begun to do so on his descent back to earth. The Moorefield forward found Jack Sheridan who had to score and did; finding the bottom left hand corner of the net.

In an incredibly competitive display against a top side, the chief frustration for Kildare in the first half was the nine wides they finished the half with. The Lilies managed 19 shots to Wexford’s 17 in the but couldn’t turn those chances into white flags quite often enough in the opening half. It would turn out to be a fatal lack of efficiency against a more clinical team.

Wexford points from Conor Hearne and captain Jack O’Connor sent the sides in level at half-time at 1-6 to 0-9.

The Lilies made a fast start to the second half and edged in front 16 seconds after the restart through Jack Sheridan.

It was set-pieces, and the tendency for a Kildare tackle to be followed by the referee’s whistle, that cost the home side in the minutes that followed. As one fan quipped “if a fly landed on Lee Chin, he would have blown for it.” Much is often made of the difference between the Munster and Leinster Hurling Championships in terms of perceived quality but the difference in physicality which was allowed was of stark contrast on the day.

Three Chin scores on the spin left The Lilies two behind before Simon Leacy brought the gap to one at the end of a slick move from McKenna to Paul Dolan to the point-scorer.

Wexford showed their scoring persistence in response with two brilliant Kildare tackles not enough to stop a point in reply when Ross Banville spun away from the crowd to score.

Two more Chin and one from Sheridan left Kildare three behind with 19 minutes remaining. Despite the referee’s tendency to turn to his whistle, the Wexford fans were aghast two minutes from the end when a free was awarded for Kildare with one supporter firing his programme onto the field in disgust at the gall of the official.

Wexford pulled clear in the final 12 minutes of action as the Kildare endeavours to that point took their toll. The Yellowbellies took their late chances very well and added a goal through Lee Chin to put some extra shine on the scoreboard in added time. Wexford finished as 1-22 to 1-14 winners to pick up a first round victory.

Speaking after the game, Kildare manager Brian Dowling said: “Obviously I can’t say anything on the sideline but I was very frustrated. I thought some of them (frees) were immensely soft. At the other end, I thought we could have had a couple of frees but we didn’t get them. Hurling is a physical game, we all want to see it. You’ll see tomorrow, the Munster Championship lads will do whatever they want to each other. It’s not something you want.”

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Wexford, Lee Chin 1-12 (0-9 frees, 1 x '65), Ross Banville 0-2, Mark Fanning 0-1 (0-1 frees), Diarmuid O'Leary 0-1, Eamon Wickham 0-1, Conor Hearne 0-1, Jack O'Connor 0-1, Damien Reck 0-1, Simon Roche 0-1, James Byrne 0-1.

Kildare, Jack Sheridan 1-5 (0-2 frees), David Qualter 0-2 (0-2 frees), Paul Dolan 0-2, Tom Power 0-1, Cian Boran 0-1, Simon Leacy 0-1, Cathal McCabe 0-1, Gerry Keegan 0-1.

WEXFORD: Mark Fanning; Darragh Carley, Conor Foley, Shane Reck; Damien Reck, Richie Lawlor, Diarmuid O'Leary; Conor Hearne, Eamon Wickham; Ross Banville, Lee Chin, Jack O'Connor; Kevin Foley, Jack Redmond, Simon Roche. Subs: Rory Higgins for Jack Redmond (45 minute), Cillian Byrne for Jack O'Connor (50 minutes), James Byrne for Simon Roche (62 minutes), David Clarke for Darragh Carley (66 minutes).

KILDARE: Paddy McKenna; Liam O'Reilly, Rian Boran, Dan O'Meara; Paul Dolan, Cian Boran, Simon Leacy; Daire Guerin, Conan Boran; David Qualter, Cathal McCabe, Gerry Keegan; Muiris Curtin, Tom Power, Jack Sheridan. Subs: Darragh Melville for David Qualter (56 minutes), Conn Kehoe for Dan O'Meara (59 minutes), Richy Hogan for Tom Power (65 minutes), Tim Ryan for Muiris Curtin (68 minutes).

Referee: Michael Kennedy (Tipperary)