Galway ... 1-20 Wexford ... 1-10 Ger Farragher took his chances to reverse last year's disappointing defeat as Galway handed Wexford a 10-point drubbing in this All-Ireland under-21 hurling semi-final at Semple Stadium, Thurles, on Saturday.
Farragher struck 13 points in a single-handed demolition job of the model county with eight of those points coming during the opening half. His total was comprised of seven pointed frees, two 65s, two side-line cuts and two from play as Wexford had no answer to his powerful midfield play.
The opening 30 minutes belonged to Farragher who punished every indiscretion in the Wexford defence with supreme accuracy from placed balls. As early as the first minute he was on target with a pointed free as the westerners went on to seize control.
Galway led by 0-7 to 0-1 after 22 minutes. There was brief hope of a Wexford recovery when Rory Jacob collected a crossfield Barry Lambert ball, before seeing his shot spin off a defender and just over the line for a rather fortuitous goal, but left last year's finalists just three points adrift despite been outplayed in most sectors.
Just to demonstrate their dominance, the Galway response was swift with points flowing within 60 seconds from Michael Coughlan and Farrager.
Any chance Wexford had of staging another comeback in this championship campaign disappeared within a minute of the start of the second half when goalkeeper Matty White misjudged an Adrian Cullinane shot with the ball spinning off his hurley into the corner of the net.
Although Wexford managed to reduce the deficit to seven points, 1-14 to 1-7, after 42 minutes, there was never the likelihood of a recovery as Galway cruised through the remainder of the game. They now look forward to a final meeting with Limerick, trying to prevent the Shannonsiders from making it three in a row.
GALWAY: Adrian Diviney; B Mahoney, S Kavanagh, F Moore; Aidan Diviney, C Dervan, MJ Quinn; G Farragher (0-13), D Forde; R Murray (0-2), M Coughlan (0-3), A Cullinane (1-1), D Hayes (0-1), K Brady, D Green. Subs: JP O'Connell for Aidan Diviney; J Culkin for Brady; F Kavanagh for Brady.
WEXFORD: M White; T Hawkins, D O'Connor, P Donoghoe; S O'Neill (0-1), K Rossiter, J O'Connor; S Stamp, D Lyng; MJ Furlong (0-1), W Doran, D Mythen; R Jacob (1-0), B Lambert (0-7), J Goggins. Subs: E Quigley (0-1), for Doran; L Gleeson for Donoghoe; A O'Leary for Goggins; N Goff for Lyng; K Kavanagh for Hawkins.
Referee: G Harrington (Cork).
