Wexford 1-15 Meath 2-11: Wexford put in an amazing second-half display to overcome the emerging talents of Meath to chalk up their first league win of the season at Wexford Park yesterday.
Trailing by eight points, 2-4 to 0-2, after 12 minutes, and still five points adrift at the break, Wexford looked destined for a fourth successive defeat, but they out-fought Meath in the second 35 minutes to emerge with a single-point victory.
The Wexford defence was torn apart during the opening 15 minutes. After Matty Forde and Peter Curran had exchanged early points, Meath struck for two goals.
Joe Sheridan found himself on the end of a free-flowing move only to see his shot parried away by Wexford goalkeeper John Cooper. Ger Robinson, however, was at hand to finish the breaking ball to the net.
Two minutes later Robinson ran on to a long Daithí White free to lob Cooper, leaving his side ahead 2-1 to 0-1 after five minutes.
It was an impressive opening for Meath and, when they led by 2-4 to 0-2 after 12 minutes, Wexford were left with a mountain to climb, particularly after Eric Bradley had a low drive deflected over the bar by Meath goalkeeper Brendan Murphy.
Wexford manager Paul Bealin soon put John Hudson into the half-forward line from the bench and Bradley and Rory Stafford began to drive the side forward from midfield.
Two pointed frees from Forde and a further Diarmuid Kinsella point had reduced the deficit to five points, 2-5 to 0-6, but it was Meath who still looked comfortable, leading 2-8 to 0-9 at the interval.
Wexford sent out an early warning signal when Hudson scored a goal by punching home a Forde side-line kick two minutes after the restart.
This signalled a period of total Wexford dominance. Forde kicked two points, one a free, and after 47 minutes it was Hudson who fired over a point to give his side the lead, 1-12 to 2-8.
With eight minutes remaining the home side led by two points, 1-15 to 2-10. Unlike the first half, when Meath staged a late rally, the home defence put up the shutters and restricted Eamonn Barry's charges to a Regan pointed free two minutes into added-time.
WEXFORD: J Cooper; C Morris, P Wallace, N Murphy; K Kennedy (0-1), D Murphy, P Curtis (0-1); E Bradley (0-1), R Stafford; C Deely (0-1), L O'Brien, D Kinsella (0-1); PJ Banville (0-1), P Colfer, M Forde (0-7, six frees). Subs: J Hudson (1-1) for Colfer (24 mins), R Barry (0-1) for O'Brien (30 mins), T Howlin for Bradley (52 mins, inj), A Flynn for Banville (69 mins).
MEATH: B Murphy, B O'Reilly, K Reilly, N McLoughlin, J Donohue, A Moyles, S Kenny, B Lynch, N Crawford, P Curran (0-3, one free), J Sheridan, P Byrne (0-1), G Robinson (2-3, 0-3 frees), D Whyte (0-1), B Farrell (0-1). Subs: D Gallagher for Lynch (43 mins), R Maguire for Whyte (44 mins), T Brosnan (0-1) for Curran (50 mins), D Regan (0-1, free) for Robinson (72 mins).
Referee: P Russell (Tipperary).
