Richie Lawlor, who impressed for Wexford against Offaly this afternoon in Birr, pictured here carrying the ball into the tackle against Jason Sampson.
Walsh Cup Results
WEXFORD 1-20 OFFALY 2-14
KILKENNY 3-31 LAOIS 2-21
Next Saturday night’s big local derby at Chadwicks Wexford Park, which has already seen over 10,000 supporters buy tickets for the game that will be the first to be played under the new floodlights at the venue, was set up nicely this afternoon when both Wexford and Kilkenny picked up wins in the midlands against Offaly and Laois respectively, ensuring that the winner of next week's game will almost certainly qualify for a Walsh Cup final against Galway.
Darragh Egan continued to give his younger and inexperienced panel members the chance to stake a claim for jerseys in advance of bigger games ahead, and players like wing back Ian Carty and the midfield pairing of Richie Lawler and Charlie McGuckin – a son of former Offaly All-Ireland winning corner back Shane – certainly took their chance well in Birr this afternoon.
A goal from Oisín Kelly gave Offaly a 1-3 to 0-3 lead after 11 minutes, but Wexford took over at midfield and half-forward from there to score eight of the next nine points of the contest.
A rally before half-time, powered by three frees from Cathal Kiely and two excellent points from the impressive young corner forward Charlie Mitchell, narrowed the gap to 1-8 to 0-13 at half-time, and that was narrowed further when Kelly slapped over the first point of the second half with three minutes gone after the restart.
A second yellow card for full back Ciarán Burke hampered Offaly however and while Wexford’s shooting in the second half was poor, with seven wides struck by the Slaneysiders in that time – not to mention a goal chance for Jack O’Connor that was well-saved by Eamonn Cleary – they dominated possession and held Offaly to no score from play for half an hour.
When Darragh Egan sent for the cavalry in the form of Lee Chin, Conor McDonald and Diarmuid O’Keeffe, two points from McDonald and Chin’s well-taken goal pushed Wexford eight points clear.
Offaly did rally late with points from Jack Clancy and Brian Duignan, either side of a 40 metre free that David Nally whipped with topspin off the astroturf and into the net, but while they managed to lob one last hopeful delivery into the Wexford square, veteran goalkeeper Mark Fanning was able to easily clear the danger.
Despite the winter weather, the scores flowed fast and free at Rathdowney this afternoon, where Enda Rowland and PJ Scully helped Laois into an early lead against Kilkenny, following up on their win over Wexford the previous week.
Cian Kenny’s point levelled the match after 20 minutes, and two goals from Galmoy’s Billy Drennan – either side of one for Ross King for Laois – left it 2-16 to 1-14 at the interval.
Derek Lyng’s side were much improved after half-time however, with Drennan, Paul Cody and Walter Walsh all in good scoring form for the Cats. Gearóid Dunne came off the bench to score their third goal with 15 minutes to play, helping to push the lead out to 17 points at one stage. Stephen Bergin replied with a green flag for the home side, but they never looked like cutting the margin to single figures, and now their focus will shift to what looks like a competitive local derby with Offaly next Sunday afternoon in Tullamore.
