Sport

Bealin begins with a battling victory

Gaelic football O'Byrne Cup first round: A dazzling display from full forward John Hudson helped Wexford to a three-point victory…

Fri Jan 06 2006 - 00:00

Gaelic football O'Byrne Cup first round: A dazzling display from full forward John Hudson helped Wexford to a three-point victory over a battling Wicklow side in their O'Byrne Cup first-round clash at Craanford last night.

It was a typical opening game of the season, with both sides guilty of a number of errors, but in the second half the pace of the game stepped up with Wexford gaining more of a grip around midfield, where Brendan Doyle won a lot of high ball and Hudson's brilliant 47th-minute goal gave his side a 1-7 to 1-4 lead.

While Wicklow managed to remain in contention through substitute Wayne O'Gorman's points, it was the greater experience of Wexford that helped them gain the crucial late scores from Kieran Kennedy and Hudson to set up a second-round clash with the winners of Dublin and UCD.

Tommy Gill, back in the Wicklow attack for the first time in more than 12 months, set up a splendid seventh-minute goal for Leighton Glynn as his side went on to enjoy the better of the opening 20 minutes.

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In this opening spell Wexford could manage only a single score from play, a Gary O'Grady point, with the remainder of their first-half scores coming from Hudson's frees. With Gill showing splendid form, Wicklow led 1-3 to 0-4 at the interval.

Wexford were forced to line out minus All Star Matty Forde who was ruled out with a knee injury, but for Wicklow it was a welcome return for their star attacker Gill who missed last year's league and championship campaign owing to injury.

WEXFORD: A Masterson; C Morris, R Mageean, N Murphy; P Curtis, L O'Brien, D Murphy; B Doyle, P Colfer; C Deely (0-1), D Fogarty, G Sunderland; G O'Grady (0-1), J Hudson (1-6, three frees), PJ Banville (0-1). Subs: D Breen for Mageean; R Purcell for Fogarty; L Murphy for O'Grady; D Mooney for L Murphy; K Kennedy (0-1) for Sunderland.

WICKLOW: E Burke; D Power, B Daly, A Halpin; K Manning, G Jameson, T Burke; J Stafford, G Duffy; L Glynn (1-0), G Doyle (0-2, frees), JP Dalton; T Gill (0-2, one free), W Callaghan, A Nolan. Subs: W O'Gorman (0-3) for JP Dalton; J Fitzsimons for Stafford; D Dillon for Duffy; P Cronin for A Nolan.

Referee: E Kinsella (Laois).