Wexford SHC final: Rory O’Connor gets Martin’s moving after sluggish start to land fifth title

St Martin’s finished strongly to tuck away a fifth county title on the 25th anniversary of the club’s first lifting of the Bowe Cup. It had been five years since their fourth – also defeating St Anne’s in the final – an interval notable for the ravages of Covid and the Martin’s apparently recurrent inability to deliver on their status as leading contenders.
That was swept away in an edgy final, characterised by a painfully low-scoring first half – or more accurately first 25 minutes – and a freer-flowing second half.
It was to the credit of St Anne’s that they never allowed themselves to be shaken off until the final minutes when frenzied attempts to get a salvaging goal led to counter-attacks which gave the closing scoreboard a slightly distorted margin of victory.
The winners put in a sterling collective effort but there was no doubting the primus inter pares, as All-Star nominee Rory O’Connor gave scoring expression to his team’s superiority with 0-11 and a crucial assist for Barry O’Connor’s equally crucial 46th-minute goal.
He harassed Anne’s goalkeeper Andrew Kennedy, who had taken possession of a shot dropped short – sufficiently to dislodge the ball for his cousin to scramble it into the net.
O’Connor had been in dry dock two years ago when Martin’s narrowly lost the county final to Ferns and this time, he showed the impact of that absence with a dependable sequence of dead ball striking – although wayward with three – and three excellent points from play. He was fouled himself for two of his three frees.
Symbolically, his last free, initially waved wide, was flagged on review and afterwards, he registered satisfaction with the upturn in his fortunes.
“The team has been on a really significant journey since Covid. Around then we found ourselves in a relegation semi-final. We lost a county final and a county semi-final and were knocking on the door.
“Lots of expectations with the Martin’s senior hurling team, always. If we aren’t lifting a cup, it’s seen as failure.”
In the first quarter, however, their shooting efficiency lagged behind their opponents – after the teams’ first six shots, Anne’s led 0-4 to 0-2 – but having hauled themselves level, Martin’s closed out the final minutes before half-time with an unanswered scoring burst of four points, to lead 0-10 to 0-6.
Five years ago, the clubs had met in the final and there had been just two points in it and that level of competitiveness was never far from the surface even when the winners resumed the second half with a couple of points to establish a double-score lead.
St Anne’s responded. Kyle Kennedy’s free taking was accurate and when he was taken off, his replacement, Mark Furlong maintained business as usual.
Centrefield was also feisty with Diarmuid O’Keeffe in full warrior mood between popping up in the first half for a vital defensive interception and running at the defence, which led to an awful clatter in the 43rd minute when he stumbled into Paddy O’Connor’s blunt challenge and went down in a heap – referee Justin Heffernan deeming it not to merit any reprimand beyond the free.
Liam Rochford was a ball of energy, striking 0-3 from play, and Liam McGovern scored 0-2, as Anne’s closed to within two points. Barry O’Connor’s goal redecorated Martin’s lead at 1-15 to 0-13 but Rochford replied with another point.
For a match that in the first half had the scoring patterns of an Ulster club football fixture, the scoreboard picked up considerably, moving at nearly a point a minute.
There were moments that felt significant, as when Kevin Breen got penalised for overcarrying out of defence; O’Connor cashed in for a second point in a minute.
“I doubt if it was an overly exciting first half,” said O’Connor afterwards. “As players and I’ve no problem saying this, we want the game to be let flow as much as possible. We are now training as hard as ever and lads are able to take belts. We want it as physical as possible and we want it strong and hard, duels where the corner back is on the corner forward and knocking lumps out of each other.
“We don’t want it turning into a free taking competition where someone walks off with 15 frees. I thought did a great job in the second half with that.”
What about his goal? Had he been apprehensive about the possibility of conceding a free out?
“That is the thing! When a goalkeeper gets the ball, an outfield player has to go as easy as possible so I didn’t physically rush him. I just waited for him to play and got the stick in. Thankfully, cousin Bar came in – I could just see his knees coming in! But we got it over the line.
“If you want to play on a team, you’ve got to work. No point me being a fancy forward, scoring from the sideline and then not working my backside off for the team. I could see what the lads were doing in the backs and if I can’t do that in the forwards, I don’t deserve to wear the jersey.”
Manager Daithi Hayes will now turn his mind to Kildare dual champions, Naas, in the Leinster championship,
ST MARTIN’S: D Byrne; P O’Connor, C Firman (capt.), P Dempsey; E O’Leary, J Barrett (0-2), D Waters; J Firman (0-2), David Codd; Darren Codd (0-3), J O’Connor (0-2, one free), R O’Connor (0-11, seven frees, 1 ‘65′); J Devereux, B O’Connor (1-0), K Firman (0-1).
Subs: C Coleman for J Devereux (39 mins), B Maddock (0-1) for K Firman (50 mins), J O’Connor for J Firman (64 mins), S Audsley for E O’Leary (65 mins).
ST ANNE’S: A Kennedy; L Schokman, T Cullen, F Ryan; E Ryan, K Breen, P Doyle; A Rochford, D O’Keeffe; J Moran (capt; 0-1), L Óg McGovern (0-2), C Byrne; L Rochford (0-3), K Kennedy (0-8, eight frees), A Moran.
Subs: D Furlong (0-1) for Shokman (half-time), M Furlong (0-4, three frees) for K Kennedy (50 mins), M Fogarty for C Byrne (54 mins).
Referee: J Heffernan (Blackwater).