Only a victory would suffice for both teams from this Tailteann Cup Group 2 last round tie, and John Hegarty’s under-performing side looked to have finally found something approaching their best form with six points on the bounce between the 46th and 58th minutes.
Those scores established a 0-12 to 2-4 advantage, after a Tipperary team that led by 2-1 to 0-6 at the break had added the first three points on the restart before losing their way.
Wexford hadn’t played well on the whole, but after that flourish the small number of supporters among an attendance of no more than 200 at best would have settled for a success in any shape or form.
It was all about securing a place in Sunday’s draw for the preliminary quarter-finals at that stage, regardless of how it was achieved.
And while those prospects brightened when Tipperary netminder Evan Comerford ventured downfield to miss a kickable free, a tense finish was ensured after full-forward Seán O’Connor ended their scoreless spell that had lasted more than 23 minutes following an Eoghan Power delivery (0-12 to 2-5).
After wides from Darragh Lyons and Conall Kennedy at either end, and the loss of Wexford’s man of the match Seán Nolan through injury in between, five fraught additional minutes were announced.
Wexford did well in the early stages, playing keep-ball successfully for almost three minutes before a Dylan Furlong shot was blocked and Tipperary were awarded a free.
Jack Kennedy went on to launch a long ball towards the opposition goalmouth, but it was successfully defended before a tackle on captain Liam Coleman forced him over the sideline.
There’s something cruelly ironic in the fact that, after months spent by both teams working on intricate tactics and systems of play, survival and departure all boiled down to an old-style high ball that was driven into the square.
Tipperary captain Paudie Feehan took on that responsibility, and his kick from the left flank was touched to the net by the inrushing Stephen Grogan to secure the Munster side’s first win since February.
Wexford did have one last opportunity to at least get the ball into their rivals’ goalmouth and hope for the best after a foul on Páraic Hughes, but Tipperary emerged with possession and a Tailteann Cup campaign that never took off was brought to a jarring and gut-wrenching end.
This outcome is a big blow for football in the county, and it means that 2024 concludes abruptly without any discernible progress being made.
In the current climate, Wexford’s top realistic priority was and will continue to be securing promotion from Division 4.
And while that prospect was cruelly taken from them away to Leitrim, the bottom line is that they didn’t perform in the main event after an encouraging first outing against a weak Carlow team.
Sometimes the facts don’t lie, and the bottom line is that Wexford departed on the first day of June after losing four matches on the trot.
A sign of progress, in my opinion, would have constituted a return to the Tailteann Cup quarter-finals and at least giving a better account of ourselves than in last year’s heavy loss to eventual winners Meath.
Bowing out before the knockout stages – and as one of just three teams that failed to pick up a point, along with Longford and Offaly – suggests a backward step has been taken, and only the most positive of glass-half-full merchants would regard it as stagnation at best.
Hindsight may lead us to think that their league misfortune took more out of this dedicated group than we realised at the time, and that may well be the case.
The unfortunate reality from Saturday’s game is that Wexford didn’t play well enough to get the job done, ending with 13 wides compared to a mere four from Tipperary, with some of the eight amassed in the opening half simply hard to believe.
An overly-accommodating approach in defence had been signposted from a long way out, and it hurt us badly again here as the Premier County goaled twice in the opening half to take a 2-1 to 0-6 lead into the break.
Wexford had gone through Tipp for a short cut in their league meeting in Fethard on St. Patrick’s Day, coasting to victory on a 4-10 to 0-8 scoreline.
And after watching Saturday’s victors atone for that hammering, it wasn’t easy to figure out their tactics ahead of this re-match.
Clearly, their gameplan was based on a feeling that “if we stop this crowd from getting goals, we’re in with a great chance”.
And so it worked out, with a laboured Wexford struggling to create openings as they tried to negotiate their way around 14 men behind the ball on a baking hot day.
On a weekend when poor attendances were widespread, it felt like those who stayed away from Carlow got the better deal, because this was a game to forget in so many respects.
It had started brightly for Wexford when Eoghan Nolan palmed over from a Seán Nolan handpass after 85 seconds, before the latter scored the first of his seven points following a foul on Mark Rossiter.
However, the first three of eight opening half wides followed from Seán Nolan, Rossiter and Eoin Porter before Tipperary hit the front with a goal in the eleventh minute.
Peter McGarry popped a pass inside for his Clonmel Commercials clubmate Seán O’Connor to get the better of Gavin Sheehan and apply an assured finish past Will Foley for a 1-0 to 0-2 lead.
A fourth wide followed at the other end, from Kevin O’Grady, before Páraic Hughes levelled, but Conor Kinsella wasted the next point chance and a Rossiter kick dropped short after a partial block.
With so much possession squandered, a second serious blow followed when Tipperary centre-back Paudie Feehan soloed down the centre without anyone laying a glove on him before he planted a low shot into the right corner of the net (2-0 to 0-3).
Wexford were extremely sloppy in the final third of the field, with Darragh Lyons, Seán Nolan (free) and Páraic Hughes extending their wides tally to eight before Stephen Grogan fisted over the sole Tipperary point of the opening half in the 32nd minute.
It was a key saving grace that Seán Nolan came into his own in the approach to half-time, kicking three points on the spin to reduce arrears to 2-1 to 0-6.
And he showcased his comfort in finishing off either foot in that bright spell, hitting the first off his left following a Darragh Lyons lay-off after Eoghan Nolan had a kick blocked.
Lyons then sent the ball into the left corner from where the Horeswood attacker finished off his right peg, and he reverted back to the other foot for his fourth point of the half from a Mark Rossiter pass.
One welcome sight at the start of the second period was the return of Cian Hughes for the first time since the February 3 league loss to Laois, replacing clubmate Conor Kinsella after a long injury lay-off.
However, the first seven-plus minutes brought worrying signs as Tipperary reeled off the first three points on the trot, courtesy of Peter McGarry, Eoghan Power and an Evan Comerford free (2-4 to 0-6).
Kevin O’Grady (two) and Liam Coleman struck three more Wexford wides in that period, and it simply wasn’t happening for them in front of the posts.
Finally, a Darragh Lyons kick from distance after an Eoin Porter pass signified the start of a sustained spell of dominance – and, more importantly, accurate shooting – in the 46th minute.
Páraic Hughes teed up Seán Nolan for another off his left boot, before securing the free that led to the full-forward making it a one-point game.
The recently-introduced Jack Higgins levelled from a Hughes pass, after Tipperary coughed up possession cheaply from a free, before Lyons kicked a wide and an attempt at a point from Stephen Quirke rebounded into play at the other end.
Wexford hit the front again, for the first time since losing the lead to Tipperary’s opening goal, when Seán Nolan finished a Páraic Hughes run and pass for his seventh point in the 56th minute (0-11 to 2-4).
Hughes – the driving force in that dominant period – then fed captain Liam Coleman to double the advantage, but that was as good as it got for Wexford.
Indeed, it took them just shy of ten minutes before they managed another shot, and that attempt from Darragh Lyons yielded their 13th and final wide.
Tipperary had narrowed arrears to the minimum by that stage, and a draw would have been worthless to both teams given that the other three third-placed finishers were going to have more than one point.
That was the fear as time ticked away – that Tipp might grab an equaliser and leave everyone frustrated.
However, one Hail Mary kick later, followed by the outstretched arm of Stephen Grogan deflecting the ball into Will Foley’s net, provided the worst outcome imaginable as Wexford saw victory, and survival, snatched from their grasp.
Wexford: Will Foley (Horeswood); Eoin Porter (Rathgarogue-Cushinstown), Gavin Sheehan (Gusserane), Liam O’Connor (St. Mary’s, Rosslare); Glen Malone (Shelmaliers), Darragh Lyons (St. James’, 0-1), Dylan Furlong (Sarsfields); Liam Coleman (Castletown, capt., 0-1), Niall Hughes (Kilanerin); Kevin O’Grady (St. James’), Páraic Hughes (Kilanerin, 0-1), Mark Rossiter (Gusserane); Eoghan Nolan (Shelmaliers, 0-1), Seán Nolan (Horeswood, 0-7, 2 frees), Conor Kinsella (Kilanerin). Subs. – Cian Hughes (Kilanerin) for Kinsella (HT), Tom Byrne (Kilmore) for Rossiter (44), Jack Higgins (Castletown, 0-1) for O’Grady (49), Jonathan Bealin (Castletown) for E. Nolan (52), Richie Waters (Fethard) for S. Nolan, inj. (68), also Colum Feeney (Adamstown), Graham Staples (Shelmaliers), Conor Carty (Castletown), Cathal Walsh (Monageer-Boolavogue), Ben Brosnan (Carnew Emmets, Wicklow), John Dunne (HWH-Bunclody).
Tipperary: Evan Comerford (0-1 free); Emmet Moloney, Jimmy Feehan, Mark Stokes; Stephen Grogan (1-1), Paudie Feehan (capt., 1-0), Luke Boland; James Morris, Conall Kennedy; Kieran Costello, Jack Kennedy, Peter McGarry (0-1); Colm O’Shaughnessy, Seán O’Connor (1-1), Stephen Quirke. Subs. – Eoghan Power (0-1) for O’Shaughnessy, inj. (30), Shane O’Connell for Moloney (50), Conor Cadell for Boland (52), Mark Russell for Quirke (62), Darragh Brennan for McGarry (70+3).
Referee: Brendan Cawley (Kildare).
TAILTEANN CUP GROUP 2
P W D L F A PTS
Sligo 3 2 1 0 78 56 5
Antrim 3 2 1 0 62 56 5
Tipperary 3 1 0 2 48 67 2
Wexford 3 0 0 3 50 59 0
