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Leinster SHC: Westmeath stun Wexford

Rory O'Connor, Wexford, and Darragh Egerton, Westmeath, in Leinster SHC action. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Rory O'Connor, Wexford, and Darragh Egerton, Westmeath, in Leinster SHC action. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship

Westmeath 4-18 Wexford 2-22

By Ronan Fagan at Chadwicks Wexford Park

Substitute Niall Mitchell blasted two late goals as Westmeath fought back from a 17 point deficit to end Wexford’s championship aspirations with Sunday’s sensational fourth round Leinster round-robin victory at Chadwicks Wexford Park.

Darragh Egan’s Wexford seemed to be coasting towards a crucial victory when leading 2-14 to 0-3 after 32 minutes.

But they couldn’t reproduce such ruthlessness in the second-half as a couple of Niall O’Brien goals roused Westmeath to claw their way to a famous victory completed by Mitchell’s closing set of majors.

Wexford, with Kilkenny coming to town next Sunday, are now battling against relegation together with Westmeath and Antrim, with the latter pair facing off next weekend.

There simply wasn’t a glimmer of the fate set to befall Wexford as they wasted no time in laying solid foundations against Westmeath when sweeping 1-7 to 0-1 ahead inside 15 minutes.

On a scorching afternoon, Westmeath managed a solitary score inside the first twenty-one minutes – a fourth minute Ciarán Doyle free.

Wexford, meanwhile, lit their fuse through early submissions from Rory O’Connor and Mikie Dwyer, before O’Connor’s momentum towards goal was halted by a Darragh Egerton intervention.

However, Wexford’s plucky number 13 returned with a vengeance on 10 minutes when producing a turn-over to feed Conor McDonald to stitch the net (1-6 to 0-1).

And those players combined again to similarly telling effect on 24 minutes, when the elder of the O’Connor brothers, Jack, robbed Westmeath possession to supply Rory, who released to McDonald for his second major (2-10 to 0-2).

Jack O’Connor decorated Wexford’s clinical first-half with a sublime line-ball score from some 50 yards to contribute to a clear-cut 2-15 to 0-5 interval advantage.

Westmeath, managed by Wexford native Joe Fortune – an Under-20 selector with the purple-and-gold only two years ago – worked the oracle at half-time, starting with a couple of personnel changes.

Wexford were certainly alerted to the looming danger when Westmeath helped themselves to 1-4 without reply to shave the gap to 2-15 to 1-9 by the 43rd minute.

Ciarán Doyle rifled over three points (two frees) while Niall O’Brien motored through for an uplifting 38th minute goal.

Wexford appeared to be getting into their groove again when three Lee Chin points and another Jack O’Connor line-ball score opened-up a 2-19 to 1-11 margin after 53 minutes.

And they had Westmeath counting their lucky stars after Wexford were denied a couple of goals – Jack O’Connor seeing his 53rd minute penalty saved after a foul on his brother, before Jack, and Conor McDonald were each foiled in quick fashion on 57 minutes.

Westmeath kept beavering away, and Niall O’Brien provided a surge of energy when gathering a long delivery to goal it back to 2-22 to 2-13 in the 62nd minute.

Points from Joseph Boyle, Niall O’Brien and substitute Derek McNicholas – whose injury-time goal snatched a draw for Westmeath in this meeting last year – maintained the stunning fight-back, before Niall Mitchell transformed things remarkably with a double goal blast.

The first of Mitchell’s blows on 70 minutes arrived after a long delivery from Cormac Boyle, before Mitchell repeated the dose two minutes into added-time from a Peter Clarke assist to snatch a 4-16 to 2-21 lead.

Wexford were unable to bridge the gap during almost six minutes of added-time as their summer was blown off course by Westmeath’s huge-hearted gang.

Scorers for Westmeath: Ciarán Doyle 0-11 (10fs), Niall O’Brien 2-3 (1f), Niall Mitchell 2-0, Peter Clarke, Joseph Boyle, Derek McNicholas, Eoin Keyes 0-1 each.

Scorers for Wexford: Conor McDonald 2-2, Lee Chin 0-6 (4fs), Jack O’Connor 0-4 (2 sideline cuts), Rory O’Connor 0-3, Oisín Foley, Conor Hearne 0-2 each, Mikie Dwyer, Ian Carty, Cathal Dunbar 0-1 each.

Westmeath: Noel Conaty; Conor Shaw, Tommy Doyle, Johnny Bermingham; Aaron Craig, Robbie Greville, Darragh Egerton; Shane McGovern, Ciarán Doyle; Eoin Keyes, Niall O’Brien, Charlie McCormick; Owen McCabe, Joseph Boyle, Davy Glennon.

Sin-bin: Darragh Egerton (55).

Subs: Peter Clarke for McGovern (HT), Cormac Boyle for McCormick (HT), Niall Mitchell for Glennon (51), Derek McNicholas for Doyle (66). 

Wexford: James Lawlor; Shane Reck, Liam Ryan, Conor Devitt; Ian Carty, Matthew O’Hanlon, Simon Donohoe; Jack O’Connor, Cathal Dunbar; Liam Óg McGovern, Lee Chin, Oisín Foley; Rory O’Connor, Conor McDonald, Mikie Dwyer.

Subs: Charlie McGuckin for Dunbar (60), Conor Hearne for Dwyer (60), Diarmuid O’Keeffe for Foley (70).

Referee: Chris Mooney (Dublin).