Tipperary footballers suffer heavy defeat at the hands of Wexford

Tipperary 0-8      Wexford 4-10

Tipperary slumped to a 14-point defeat at the hands of Wexford in this Allianz National Football League Division 4 Round 6 game, played on the grass pitch at Fethard Town Park on a sunny but breezy St. Patrick’s Day.

In this rearranged fixture, played before a small crowd, the home side were no match for the visitors, who controlled the game from the off. 

This fixture, which was originally fixed for Templetuohy earlier in the week, and had then been transferred to a Wexford venue, failed to materialise when two separate Wexford venues were deemed unplayable. Surely this Fethard venue could have been used on Saturday, as I have been reliably informed that it was playable.

Before the start, the Tipperary management made a total of eleven changes to the team that was announced on Thursday night, seven in personnel plus a further four positional. From the throw-in Wexford signalled their intent and took the game to the home side, notching up two early points. They struck for the opening goal after ten minutes following a three-man move. Further goals followed in the 22nd and 27th minutes, resulting in a 3-6 to 0-5 half-time lead.

Six minutes after the restart, the game was well and truly over as a contest when Mark Rossiter got in for his second and Wexford’s fourth goal. It took the home side 21 minutes to register a second half score and they never really troubled the visitors. Had it not been for some dreadful shooting by the Wexford forwards, the final score would have been much higher. 

Wexford seemed intent on scoring goals in an effort to build up a higher score difference ahead of their final Round 7 game at home to Longford next weekend, as they look to consolidate the second place promotion spot.

This has not been a good league for Tipperary as they head to Leitrim next weekend, winning only one game, away to Longford, while suffering two defeats at Semple Stadium, one defeat at Fethard, drawing away to London and also sharing the points with bottom of the table Waterford at Bansha. 

Wexford started the livelier, with Eoghan Nolan kicking the opening score inside the first minute. Dylan Furlong doubled the advantage three minutes later when he finished a solo move from the back, having carved open the Tipp defence. Sean O’Connor opened Tipp’s account from a placed ball on five minutes, but overall the attack was having trouble with the hard- tackling and alert opposition defence.

Wexford got their first break on ten minutes when Sean Nolan goaled, getting on to the end of a move that involved Paraic Hughes and Mark Rossiter. Nolan and Rossiter were involved in most of the Wexford attacks and were it not for their attack in general being shot-shy, Tipp could have been in bigger trouble from early on.

Following a good build-up by the home side, Peter McGarry split the posts before Conor Cadell fed Sean O’Connor for a good point, reducing the deficit to two by the 18th minute. This was as close as Tipp would get, as Wexford began to prise open the home side’s defence. Sean Nolan finished off a five-man move from play before putting four between the sides from a placed ball around the 20-minute mark.

The next seven minutes proved to be Tipp’s undoing, as Wexford hammered home their advantage on the scoreboard. Conor Kinsella got in for goal number two before Mark Rossiter bagged his opening goal after a seven-man build up. Sean O’Connor pulled one back from a placed ball, following an unforced error from the Wexford defence. Five minutes before the break, Liam Coleman drew on a loose ball outside the square and his shot just grazed the top of the crossbar. 

Before the break, Rory O’Dowd set up his Clonmel Commercials clubman, Jack Kennedy, for a good point but this was cancelled out by Glen Malone in injury time. Wexford went in at the break with a ten-point advantage on the score 3-6 to 0-5.

Tipperary made changes at the break, with Micheal Lowry replacing Conor Cadell and Conal Kennedy coming on for Rory O’Dowd in an effort to freshen up the team. Wexford went on the attack from the throw-in but were unable to press home their advantage on the scoreboard due to some terrible shooting in front of the posts. 

Wexford’s fourth goal came in the 41st minute when Mark Rossiter booted the ball to the far corner of the net following a goalmouth scramble. This really killed off any outside hope of Tipp getting something out of the game. The visitors were in complete control but were unable to convert possession on the scoreboard and neither side scored for the next twelve minutes. 

Wexford introduced Ben Brosnan and the veteran forward kicked a point before Commercials' Jack Kennedy got Tipp’s opening score of the second half after 56 minutes. Mark Rossiter and Sean O’Connor, from a free, traded points as the game entered the final ten minutes. Eoghan Nolan fisted a minor before Conal Kennedy split the posts following a good ball from Riain Quigley. 

Emmet Moloney was forced to leave the field due to an injury with a couple of minutes of normal time remaining and Tipp had to finish the game with fourteen players, as they had used the full quota of subs by that time. Ben Brosnan had the final say as he converted a placed ball two minutes into added time to give the Slaneysiders a comfortable 14-point winning margin.

Tipperary: Evan Comerford, Emmet Moloney, Jimmy Feehan, Colm O’Shaughnessy, James Morris, Luke Boland, Rory O’Dowd, Stephen Grogan, Kieran Costello, Martin Kehoe, Jack Kennedy (0-2, 1 free, Clonmel Commercials), Conor Cadell, Peter McGarry (0-1), Paddy Creedon, Sean O’Connor (0-4, 3 frees).

Subs: Shane Neville for Martin Kehoe (24), Micheal Lowry for Conor Cadell (HT), Conal Kennedy (0-1) for Rory O’Dowd (HT), Mark Russell for Paddy Creedon (47), Riain Quigley for Kieran Costello (56).

Wexford: Rory Tubritt, Eoin Porter, Gavin Sheehan, Darragh Lyons, Kevin O’Grady, Dylan Furlong (0-1), Glen Malone (0-1), Liam Coleman (0-1), Niall Hughes, Graham Cullen, Eoghan Nolan (0-2), Paraic Hughes, Mark Rossiter (2-1), Sean Nolan (1-2, 0-1 free), Conor Kinsella (1-0).

Subs: Ben Brosnan (0-2 frees) for Sean Nolan (45), Cathal Walsh for Liam Coleman (52), Shane Pettit for Graham Cullen (52), Conor Carty for Mark Rossiter (56), Graham Staples for Kevin O’Grady (65).

Referee: Patrick McGuire (Longford).