Wexford 4-11 Waterford 2-6

Waterford’s footballers had a disastrous start to their Division 3 campaign when they conceded four goals on their way to a 4-11 to 2-6 defeat to Wexford on Sunday. It ended up being a day to forget for John Owens men who had played so well for so much of the first half before coming unstuck in first half injury time, conceding 1-3 and handing the initiative to the home side.

Up to that point, John Owens will have been quite happy with the progress his team were making. Waterford’s short passing game led to long periods of possession which seemed to frustrate Wexford who at times, were over-anxious to make use of the strong wind at their backs. On multiple occasions during the opening half, Wexford were over-zealous in trying to get the ball into their dangerous full-forward line. There were several occasions when the ball ran tamely out over Tom Wall’s end-line, much to the joy of the small Waterford band of supporters.

Wexford did look like the more likely team to score as Waterford hardly created any scoring opportunities in the opening half. Wing-forwards Brian Wall and Wayne Hennessy played so deep that there were times when they passed the ball forward to their colleague in the half-back line, most notably Shane Briggs and Eamon Walsh, both of whom made efforts to get forward whenever the opportunity arose.

With the Waterford defence coming under so much pressure, it was inevitable that they would crack at some stage. Wexford strung together some excellent moves throughout the half and kicked some excellent points, with Brian Malone, Ciaran Lyng and free-taker Ben Brosnan all getting on the score-sheet.

The only scores Waterford managed to get during the first half were a fine effort from play by Brian Phelan, and a free from Patrick Hurney.

Just as it looked as if Waterford would go in at half-time within touching distance of the home side, disaster struck. There was a long hold-up after an injury to Wexford wing-back, Adrian Flynn who was forced to leave the field on a stretcher.

The problems for Waterford began in that time added on when Tomas O’Gorman lost possession with a wayward pass. In the blink of an eye, Wexford had worked the ball across to new full-forward, Kevin O’Grady who planted the ball past Tom Wall and into the back of the net.

As the Waterford heads dropped, Wexford came forward in droves. They followed the goal with a delightful score from the dangerous Brosnan who curled the ball over form 35 yards with the outside of the boot.

This all left Wexford leading by 1-9 to 0-2 at the break.

Waterford needed an exceptional start to the second half if they were to have any chance of getting anything out of this game. However, a good start was not forthcoming and another quick-fire passing movement involving Ciaran Lyng and Redmond Barry led to a goal for Ben Brosnan and a twelve point lead for Wexford.

Waterford did make some progress when they played the long ball into Tommy Prendergast and this tactic yielded a goal in the 51^st minute when Prendergast rounded his marker before goaling. Four minutes later, substitute Michael O’Gorman set up Patrick Hurney for another Waterford goal as John Owens men threatened to make a game of it. However, it was not to be and Wexford managed to score two more goals in the final quarter with Ben Brosnan grabbing his second of the game and Ciaran Lyng rounding off a superb display with a fine goal near the end.

There were several observations one could make about this Waterford team from watching this game. Not surprisingly when playing against the wind, they set out to negate Wexford and to a certain extent they did this quite well for most of the first half. However, a couple of lapses in concentration near the end of the half had disastrous consequences and Waterford were then forced to chase the game in the second half.

Waterford struggled to win primary possession at midfield for most of the game and this put them on the back foot from almost the very beginning. In modern day football, you have to win kick-outs and this is something that Waterford failed to do. One would wonder why Tommy Prendergast was not brought out to that sector because there were long periods when he was virtually a spectator in this game.

Waterford also gave away the ball too cheaply at times and gifted hard won possession back to Wexford on many occasions.

However, it was not all negative for John Owens. There were good performances from Shane Briggs and Maurice O’Gorman. There are still several players to come back from the treatment table, including three key players in Tony Grey, Gary Hurney and Liam O’Lionain. These three are all vital players for Waterford and without them, there is a considerable hole in the side.

As regards the chances of retaining their position in Division 3, a big improvement will be required if they are to get the all-important wins. The forward line looked a little lightweight and struggled to hold on to the ball when it was played to them. This was where the loss of Gary Hurney was most expensive. They will certainly need to beat old-rivals Limerick in Dungarvan on February 20^th as Limerick will certainly be smarting following a surprise defeat to Tipperary last Sunday. All in all, it looks like an uphill challenge for Waterford, but they have faced similar mountains before and succeeded, so here’s hoping they can do so again.