John Kiely may have been feeling a touch of deja vu as Limerick slipped to a rare defeat at Chadwicks Wexford Park.
Five years ago, Kiely took Limerick to the same venue in what was his first League game in charge. Similarly, they lost by a goal to a Wexford side who had a new manager themselves in Davy Fitzgerald.
Kiely vented his ire at the referee for a number of decisions that went against his side that day and he could possibly have gone down a similar route after this setback, with the game effectively decided by Mikie Dwyer’s 58th minute goal; the player clearly took more than the permitted four steps without playing the ball before finishing past Nickie Quaid.
“Listen, from my perspective, I thought there was [an infringement] but I can’t say for certain,” said Kiely. “I haven’t seen a playback of it yet, I don’t know.”
Three All-Irelands, three Munsters and a pair of League titles later, Kiely’s temper isn’t likely to be stirred by such incidents that will be long forgotten come the end of the season, with the Treaty boss conceding that Wexford were “good for their win at the end of the day”.
His selection was somewhat experimental but after blowing Clare away in the Munster Cup final last month, the performance was lacking when the stakes were raised here.
That’ll hardly last, but it was quite obvious where their shortcomings were yesterday as the forward unit, and full-forward line in particular, never sparked.
For much of the game their defence held pretty firm and worked the ball through the lines effectively, as has been Limerick’s trademark under Kiely. But little was sticking inside.
With Peter Casey a long way off returning from his cruciate ligament injury and Graeme Mulcahy entering the veteran stage of his career, the inside line is probably where a vacancy is most likely to open up for a bolter this year but the off-colour Aaron Gillane was replaced at half-time and Pat Ryan and David Reidy followed him in the second half. None of their replacements made much of an impact either.
Some credit must go to the Wexford full-back line for that, with the unit enjoying extra insulation by Matthew O’Hanlon’s move from his more regular berth at centre-back to the corner, alongside Liam Ryan and Simon Donohoe.
On a typically blustery day, with the wind howling into the town end, Limerick’s shooting was off throughout. They shot 10 of their 18 wides when playing with the elements in the first half and their 0-7 to 0-6 lead at the break ultimately wasn’t enough, even if Wexford were wasteful themselves, running up 14 wides, 10 in the second half.
Jack O’Connor was responsible for three of those but that was overtaken by his all-round performance as he drilled his frees into the stiff breeze in the first half, the majority of which Wexford led for, notched an important point early in the second half and generally was a link in his side’s best moments.
Gearoid Hegarty’s third point of the day put Limerick 0-11 to 0-9 in front with 15 minutes remaining but they failed to score again and Dwyer’s goal after winning possession from a Paudie Foley free restored Wexford’s lead, with Conor McDonald adding a fine point and Connal Flood completing the scoring.
McDonald was a problem for Limerick throughout and, with Quaid having denied him in the first half, he had one cleared off the line late on with the ‘keeper beaten this time.
“There was a a lot of high ball coming in, lot of really good ball coming in and to be fair, they won a lot of primary possession,” said Kiely.
“But we still managed to get a block in, win the ball back and when we had it in possession we used the ball well coming out of defence and we worked the ball out well. We just found it very difficult to get a foothold in the final third. Down here that’s always the case.”
He added: “We’re just going to have to play a bit better next week, that’s the bottom line.
“Lots of what we did was good today but that piece in the final third is going to have to improve.”
WEXFORD: Mark Fanning 7; Simon Donohoe 7, Liam Ryan 8, Matthew O’Hanlon 8; Paudie Foley 7, Damien Reck 7, Connal Flood (0-2) 8; Diarmuid O’Keeffe (0-1) 7, Jack O’Connor (0-5, 0-4f) 8; Cathal Dunbar 6, Mikie Dwyer (1-0) 7, Charlie McGuckin 6; Liam Og McGovern 6, Conor McDonald (0-1) 8, Oisin Foley (0-2) 7.
Subs: David Dunne for Dunbar (59), Oisin Pepper for McGuckin (64), Paul Morris for O’Connor (70).
LIMERICK: Nickie Quaid 7; Barry Nash 7, Dan Morrissey 7, Richie English 7; Diarmaid Byrnes (0-3, 0-1 ‘65’, 0-2f) 6, Declan Hannon (0-1) 7, Colin Coughlan 6; Robbie Hanley (0-1) 6, William O’Donoghue 6; Cathal O’Neill 6, Tom Morrissey 6, Gearoid Hegarty (0-3) 7; Aaron Gillane (0-2f) 6, Pat Ryan 6, David Reidy (0-1f) 6.
Subs: Seamus Flanagan for Gillane (HT), Oisin O’Reilly for Ryan (46), Conor Boylan for O’Neill (60), Darren O’Connell for Reidy (67), Brian O’Grady for Hanley (69).
REFEREE: Thomas Walsh (Waterford).
QUOTE ME ON THAT
"We knew there was going to be a wind in Wexford Park, I'd say there never isn't a wind here. We knew we had to go direct.”
Wexford manager Darren Gleeson.
STAR MAN - Jack O’Connor (Wexford)
Struck his frees well into the wind, hit a fine score from play that got them moving in the second half and linked up well with his teammates throughout.
AN OTHER - Matthew O’Hanlon (Wexford)
The Wexford full-back line was the foundation on which the victory was fashioned and O’Hanlon was the standout in the corner having shifted from centre-back.
UP NEXT
WEXFORD: February 13 v Clare (a)
LIMERICK: February 12 v Galway (h)
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