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Ferns St Aidan's make history with first Wexford SHC title

Ferns St Aidan's manager Pat Bennett celebrates with his team and the trophy after the Wexford County Senior Hurling Championship Final match between St Martin's and Ferns St Aidan's at Chadwicks Wexford Park in Wexford.

Ferns St Aidan's manager Pat Bennett celebrates with his team and the trophy after the Wexford County Senior Hurling Championship Final match between St Martin's and Ferns St Aidan's at Chadwicks Wexford Park in Wexford.

Wexford SHC Final

Ferns St Aidan’s 1-20 St Martin’s 0-22

Jonny Dwyer was the hero for Ferns St Aidan’s as his beautifully cut sideline from all of 55 metres five minutes into extra-time secured the club’s first ever Wexford SHC title at Chadwicks Wexford Park on Sunday.

It was a dramatic end to a fiercely fought game of hurling but in the final reckoning it was a victory that Ferns deserved having made the running for most of the contest.

With their defence on top they dominated much of the first-half and forged into a 0-8 to 0-4 lead by the 21st minute.

But St. Martin’s then showed that even without the injured O’Connor brothers, Rory and Jack, in their starting XV they still had a cutting edge in attack.

With Jack Devereux to the fore, they scored six unanswered points in a row to move 0-10 to 0-8 ahead.

But timing is everything in matches of this magnitude, and Ferns struck back by landing the heaviest blow of the match in first-half injury-time.

Corey Byrne-Dunbar picked up the ball in the left corner and fed it to Dwyer who offloaded to the onrushing Patrick Breen who kicked the sliotar to the net for a vital goal just before the half-time whistle.

Ferns had slightly the better of the third quarter and led by 1-15 to 0-16 by the second-half water-break, and pushed out their advantage to four points thereafter.

But St Martin’s came with a late charge, shooting five of the next six points to level the game by the 60th minute.

Somehow, Ferns wrested back the momentum in extra-time as substitute Chris O’Connor fired over and then Dwyer landed that spectacular sideline cut to make the game safe and create history into the bargain as a late free for St Martin's proved too little too late.

Scorers for Ferns: I Byrne 0-5 (3f, 1 ‘65’), J Dwyer 0-4 (1 sideline), P Morris (1f), C Byrne Dunbar 0-3 each, P Breen 1-0, D Doyle 0-2, J Tonks, B Jordan, C O’Connor 0-1 each.

Scorers for St Martin’s: J Coleman 0-10 (7f, 2 ‘65’), K Firman 0-5, J Devereux 0-2, L Kavanagh, A Maddock, J Barrett, J Firman, M Coleman 0-1 each.

Ferns: J Lawlor; P Breen, N Murphy, D Byrne; C Roberts, E Murphy, J Tonks; R Scallan, T Dwyer; I Byrne, C Turner, J Dwyer; D Doyle, P Morris, C Byrne Dunbar. Subs: B Jordan for I Byrne (38), J Breen for Turner (41), C O’Connor for Doyle (57), R Nolan for Scallan (61).

St Martin’s: D Byrne; D O’Leary, J Barrett, P Dempsey; P O’Connor, C Firman, D Codd; M Maloney, J Firman; L Kavanagh, A Maddock, J Coleman; M Coleman, K Firman, J Devereux. Subs: D Codd for Devereux (42), W Devereux for Kavanagh (49), J O’Connor for M Coleman (52), D Waters for Maloney (54).

Referee: E Furlong (Rapparees).