Minor Hurlers overcome Wexford in Leinster Championship opener at Parnell Park

DUBLIN 0-18 

WEXFORD 0-15

Dublin withstood some late Wexford pressure to register a deserved three-point victory in their Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Hurling Championship Tier 1Round 1 encounter at a sun-kissed Parnell Park on Saturday afternoon.

Dublin looked the better side in the first-half with four points from Rory Flannery and three by full-forward Cathal Barrett leaving them with a four-point buffer by the break.

A strong third-quarter added to Dublin’s control but they endured some nervous moments approaching the end prior to completing an encouraging start to their campaign.

While Dublin opened the scoring through a Flannery free within sixty seconds, they were fortunate not to concede a goal soon after as Wexford midfielder Seán Hyland burst through before shooting narrowly wide from ten yards.

An advantage was been played following a tug on Hyland which saw Seán O’Brien convert the resultant free with the relatively even opening seeing Barrett and O’Brien exchange frees by the 9^th minute.

Wing-backs Conor Quinn and Tommy Cullen caught the eye with a couple of lively bursts from defence before the first score from play arrived in the 10^th minute as Fiachra Codd shrugged off two tackles before splitting the uprights.

The visitors spurned a couple of opportunities to restore parity as Dublin put daylight between the teams by the end of the first quarter thanks to frees by Flannery and Barrett.

Despite an excellent point by Wexford captain Jack Dunne in the 17^th minute, Dublin were enjoying a period of dominance at this stage as Flannery popped over another free from distance in the 18^th minute.

A sharp turn from Barrett two minutes later saw Dublin increase their lead to four points and Flannery was afforded too much space soon after as the hosts continued to impress.

An O’Brien free stemmed the flow briefly and as Dublin wasted a number of presentable chances to enhance their position approaching the break, a fine Tom Higgins score left them well placed at 0-9 to 0-5 by half-time.

The contest resumed with Barrett and O’Brien trading frees in the opening two minutes before Conaill O’Sullivan made light of an acute angle when restoring Dublin’s five-point advantage by the 34th minute.

Flannery and O’Brien did the necessary from placed balls from either end with the former nonchalantly adding a classy effort from downtown to push the hosts seven points ahead with twenty minutes remaining.

The visitors offered themselves some hope through Colin Carley and Cathal Sinnott but Dublin continued to retain their healthy buffer with Flannery and Fionn Daly on target.

A brace of O’Brien frees enhanced Wexford’s optimism by the 50^th minute but the goal required to spare them their fate failed to arrive against a resolute home defence.

Given his influence on proceedings, it was fitting that Cullen should fire over a superb insurance score in the 60^th minute as the hosts held on for a promising success.

Scorers – Dublin: R Flannery 0-8 (6f), C Barrett 0-5 (4f), T Cullen, F Codd ,F Daly, T Higgins, C O’Sullivan 0-1 apiece. Wexford: S O’Brien 0-10 (10f), C Gethings, C Sinnott, C Carley, J Dunne, P Keavey 0-1 apiece.

Dublin: P Ryan; C Fitzgerald; S Dunphy, R Duffy; C Quinn, C O’Flynn, T Cullen; F Codd, F Daly; T Higgins, R Flannery, E Brennan; C O’Sullivan, C Barrett, D Kilduff. Subs: O Brennan for Barrett (42), J Norris for Codd (46), E Ferguson for Brennan (57), J Heffernan for Higgins (61), D Simpson for Duffy (62).

Wexford: P Quigley; I Reilly, E Hughes, C Gethings; R Donohoe, J Nolan, C Sinnott; S Hyland, J Gethings; R Murphy, J Dunne, C Carley; S O’Brien, M Sinnott, D Rossiter. Subs: J Kennedy for R Murphy (37), B Murphy for J Gethings (39), A O’Connell Byrne for M Sinnott (45), R Wickham for Hyland (57), P Keavey for Donohoe (58).

Referee: Kyle Waters (Offaly).