Strong Finish helps U20 Hurlers Advance to Leinster Semi-Finals

DUBLIN 0-18 

WEXFORD 0-14 

Dublin advanced to the semi-finals of the ONeills.com Leinster Under 20 Hurling Championship following their victory over Wexford at Parnell Park on Wednesday evening. 

There was little to separate the sides throughout a cagey first-half that saw the visitors indebted to Sean Rowley, who accrued six points but three Neil Hogan points from play pushed the Dubs a point clear by half-time.

However, a strong start to the final quarter saw Dublin begin to control matters and a brace of Brendan Kenny points in the closing stages helped secure a welcome win.

The contest failed to ignite initially as both teams struggled to click into gear and we were into the 4^th minute before Diarmuid Ó Dúlaing opened the scoring with a free from distance.

Sean Rowley replied two minutes later for the visitors before a dangerous run at the opposite end from David Purcell resulted in a straightforward free for Ó Dúlaing as he edged the hosts back in front.

A smart Andrew Moran point levelled matters once again and the tone was set as Hogan and Rowley exchanged points to leave the teams deadlocked by the 12^th minute.

Hogan added another smart score to push Dublin ahead once again but almost inevitably, Rowley was on hand to pop over his third free of the quarter to maintain the evenness of the start.

With both teams playing with an extra man in defence, scoring opportunities inside proved at a premium as Wexford took the lead for the first time following successive points from distance by Rowley and full-back Eoin Whelan.

A sublime run and point by Jamie Conroy in the 21^st minute saw the hosts on level terms but Rowley continued to punish any home indiscipline as he added two further frees to his personal tally.

The lively Hogan clipped over his third point from play, courtesy of an Ó Dúlaing fetch and pass, and the latter converted another free in the 28^th minute to see parity restored for the seventh time in the half.

It was left to Ó Dúlaing to separate the teams by the interval as his tricky free in added time edged Dublin a 0-9 to 0-8 ahead.

The hosts proved wasteful in the early stages of the second-half as Wexford drew level through a 34^th minute point by Eamonn Wickham.

Play was beginning to open up however and Conroy availed of the generous amount of space afforded to him as he added to points in quick succession to hand Dublin a degree of breathing room.

That didn’t last too long however as the visitors struck back through Cathal Parker and Whelan with David Purcell denied a goal in the 45^th minute thanks to a fine sprawling save from Tiernan Doyle in the away goal.

The Dubs gained some consolation as Ó Dúlaing converted the resultant ‘65’ and two further points by the Commercials player and an Ollie Gaffney score pushed the hosts four points clear by the 49^th minute.

With Conal Ó Riain impressing when redeployed to a sweeper role, Dublin saw out the remainder of the game in relative comfort with two cracking Kenny points ensuring their progression to the last four.

Scorers – Dublin: D Ó Dúlaing 0-9 (7f, 1 ‘65’); N Hogan, J Conroy 0-3 each; B Kenny 0-2; O Gaffney 0-1. Wexford: S Rowley 0-7 (6f); E Whelan 0-2; C Parker, E Wickham, C Byrne, S Roche (f), A Moran 0-1 apiece.

Dublin: K Hogan; C Groarke, D Lucey, C Kennedy; C Dolan, E Keys, J Behan; C Ó Riain, L Garrigan; D Purcell, D Ó Dúlaing, B Kenny; O Gaffney, N Hogan, J Conroy. Subs: C Rock for Garrigan (half-time), C Stacey for Gaffney (52), C Newton for N Hogan (55), F Murphy for Behan (56), D Bannan for Dolan (62).

Wexford: T Doyle; C Ó Tuama, E Whelan, M Furlong; P Doyle, C Roark, D Doran O’Toole; C Parker, D Purcell; A Moran, C Byrne, E Wickham; S Rowley, S Roche, J Molloy. Subs: L Murphy for Parker (41), C Doyle for Purcell (47), B Asple for Daly O’Toole (50).

Referee: Padraig Dunne (Laois).