Fermanagh 0-12 Wexford 1-13
MISSED chances and scoring opportunities proved costly for Fermanagh as they lost their Division Three league opener against Wexford at Brewster Park on Sunday afternoon.
Fermanagh made a strong start to the game in Enniskillen with Conor Love opening the scoring after four minutes with a point, before Páiric Hughes scored Wexford’s first after 10 minutes.
Hughes added another for Wexford, before Fermanagh enjoyed a spell of dominance with Love and Cian O’Brien pointing for the Erne men, to the delight of the home support.
With 25 minutes on the clock, Wexford struck for the game’s only goal when full back Gavin Sheehan charged through the Erne defence and fired to the back of the net with aplomb.
Fermanagh weren’t perturbed by the goal though and they back with scores through Garvan Jones and Love to reduce the deficit to one.
Sean Nolan and Fionan O’Brien traded scores late in the half, before Hughes fired over a big two point score from play to give Wexford a 1-05 to 0-06 lead at half time in Brewster Park.
Following the restart, the third quarter was a slow burner with both sides coughing up a number of scoring chances, with Fermanagh failing to convert despite some promising attacks.
Devenish man O’Brien managed to score a second point for Fermanagh, before Wexford then extended their advantage back out to two with another good score from Hughes.
Both teams rang the changes with Aogan Kelm, Jack Largo Elis, Garvan Quigley and Conor O’Hanlon introduced into the fray, as Declan Bonner aimed to change the course of the game.
With 20 minutes left to play, Jones and Nolan traded scores for their sides.
Nolan, one of Wexford’s top performers on Sunday afternoon, kicked over a good free for his side, which was moved forward 50 metres by Donegal referee Enda McFeely.
With chances going abegging at both ends, Darragh McGurn produced a big two point score from play to reduce the Erne deficit to one, with the Brewster Park crowd fully backing the team.
But Fermanagh weren’t able to get an equalising score and the Wexford advantage was quickly pushed back to two points again when corner forward Tom Byrne split the posts from range.
Fermanagh sub Kelm hit back with a nice score, but Wexford took control in the final quarter with Nolan and Eoin Hughes pointing as the Leinster side closed in on the victory.
With confidence brimming, Nolan and Cathal Kehoe tagged on two more scores to put them five up, with the referee signalling that there would be five minutes of additional time to be played.
Fermanagh went in search of a goal late on but they weren’t able to hit the net, with Darragh McGurn blasting over a consolation point, as Wexford held on for a very important victory.
Teams
Fermanagh: Seán McNally, Jonathan Cassidy, Ronan McCaffrey, Luke Flanagan. Josh Largo Elis, Shane McGullion, Fionan O’Brien (0-01), Stephen McGullion, Joe McDade, Brandon Horan, Darragh McGurn (0-02, 1 x 2p), Ciaran Corrigan, Conor Love (0-03), Garvan Jones (0-02), Cian O’Brien (0-02). Subs: Declan McCusker for J McDade (42), Aogan Kelm for C Corrigan (44), Conor O’Hanlon for Stephen McGullion (48), Jack Largo Elis for L Flanagan (51), Garvan Quigley for C O’Brien (54), Jack McCann for R McCaffrey (69).
Wexford: Darragh Brooks, Shane Doyle, Gavin Sheehan (1-00), Dylan Furlong, Eoin Porter, Liam O’Connor, Glen Malone, Liam Coleman, Niall Hughes, Páiric Hughes (0-04, 1 x 2p), Cathal Kehoe (0-01), Jack Higgins, Tom Byrne (0-01), Mark Rossiter, Sean Nolan (0-06, 4f). Sub: Ruairi Martin (0-01) for G Malone (42), Eoin Hughes(0-01) for J Higgins (51).
Referee: Enda McFeely (Donegal)
