Sport

Wexford gain their revenge

Fourteen-man Wexford turned in a battling performance as they defeated Longford, who had put them out of the championship in …

Mon May 08 2000 - 01:00

Fourteen-man Wexford turned in a battling performance as they defeated Longford, who had put them out of the championship in the last two campaigns, by six points with a committed display in their round-robin opening game at New Ross yesterday. It was Longford corner forward Paraic Davis who opened the scoring in the second minute with a pointed free. Davis scored his side's three points from frees in the opening 20 minutes by which stage Wexford had moved into a 1-4 to 0-3 lead, their points coming from Matty Forde, John Hegarty and Lee O'Brien, before Hegarty crashed home a goal after 14 minutes.

Having reduced the deficit through points from Davis, Enda Ledwith and Shane Carroll, Wexford maintained their lead with wing forward Leigh O'Brien kicking two points to keep his side 1-6 to 0-4 clear after 30 minutes.

Wexford always seemed to have the edge at midfield where Jack Berry and Thomas Howlin were outstanding. Howlin set up Hegarty to grab his second goal, leaving his side with a 2-6 to 0-4 interval lead.

Longford started the second half impressively, adding three points in the opening seven minutes. But the really talking point of that opening spell was the dismissal of Wexford corner forward Mattie Forde, just three minutes into the half, following an off-the-ball incident involving Ledwith.

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Trevor Smullen and David Blessington added points to reduce the deficit to just three points, 2-8 to 0-11 with nine minutes remaining.

A real turning point came when Wexford goalkeeper Ollie Murphy saved magnificiently from Davis. Having soaked up the Longford pressure and the sides having exchanged points through Jason Lawlor and David Blessington it was Lawlor who snatched a goal for Wexford to seal a deserved victory.

WEXFORD: O Murphy; C Morris, S O'Shaughnessy, J Whelan; D Breen, P Wallace, P Forde; J Berry, T Howlin; L O'Brien (0-3), M Mahon, J Hegarty (2-1); J Lawlor (1-4), N Morris, M Forde (0-1). Subs: M Kavanagh for Mahon R Dunphy for N Morris S Hughes for Howlin.

LONGFORD: G Tonra; S Carroll (0-1), D Ledwith, P Jones; M Mulleady, D Blessington (0- 2), C Confrey; L Keenan, A Kehoe; E Ledwith (0-1), P Barden, T Smullen (0-2); P Shanley, N Sheridan, P Davis (0-4). Subs: S Hagan for D Ledwith. E Barden (0-2) for Keenan P Ross for Jones.

Referee: S McCormack (Meath).