Irish Examiner
by Brendan Larkin
10th March 2003

National Hurling League
Cork 2-14    Wexford 1-10
Wexford Park, 9th March 2003

Coach Donal O'Grady wouldn't admit it, but this was arguably one of Cork's poorest displays in years, and he and his fellow selectors face a lot of soul searching if the side are to make any shape in this year's championship.

The one positive note O'Grady can take from this disappointing Allianz NHL tie at Wexford Park is that defensively Cork could be sound enough with one or two adjustments.

Magnificient displays by Wayne Sherlock at corner-back and Ronan Curran at centre-back, lit up a dreary afternoon, made all the more so by a very poor display from the home side who also have a lot of work to do if they are to be considered champoinship contenders.

Sherlock never lost a ball while Curran played himself to a standstill, driving Wexford back time and again with tremendous long clearances.

John Gardiner also had an excellent afternoon scoring five marvellous long range points, and while Michael Jordan got four points off Sean Og O hAilpin, the Na Piarsaigh man did a lot of tidying up. Mickey O'Connell did well at midfield, but most of Cork's problems were in attack where only Joe Deane and, to a lesser extent, Alan Browne were up to standard.

Wexford were hugely disappointing in front of a crowd of around 3,000. Damien Fitzhenry, back for his first outing of the season, made two magnificent saves to deny Eoin Fitzgerald certain goals inside the opening 10 minutes as Cork opened brightly. However, he must shoulder the blame for Cork's first goal when he prevented Niall McCarthy's effort from going over the bar, played the ball on his hurley on his goal-line and Alan Browne was in to flick it home.

Dave Guiney did very well on Browne, Declan Ruth never gave Timmy McCarthy a look in while, in attack, only Michael Jordan and Paul Codd posed any real threat to the Cork defence.

"Overall it was a very substandard game with a lot of missed chances by both sides", said O'Grady. "We created the openings but over-elaboration cost us a couple of scores.

"Having said that I was happy enough going in at half time on level terms, because the wind was worth a couple of points, and we improved somewhat in the second half to take the spoils.

"It was a typical early season hurling match and it was obvious that both teams have very little done in terms of stickwork. It's not easy at this time of the year to get into pitches to work on that aspect of the game, but it will improve as the nights get longer.

Playing against the strong wind, Cork opened brightly and might have had two goals but for Fitzhenry's two superb saves, and it suggested that they were in form. Considering this opening flurry, it was hard to credit that it took Cork 27 minutes to open their account when Deane pointed a close-in free. Earlier Barry Lambert had given Wexford the lead with a brace of points, and Paul Codd had a third with his first touch after coming on as a sub.

Cork hit the front for the first time in the 30th minute with Alan Browne's goal, and they were never led after that.

The sides are tied at 1-2 to 0-5 at half time and Cork wasted little time in stamping their authority on the second half. Mickey O'Connell and Joe Deane pointed in quick succession before Deane put Timmy McCarthy through and, while the latter failed to hold the ball, it seemed to hit off his chest over the line which put Cork in front 2-4 to 0-5 seven minutes into the half.

Wexford got a goal back a minute later when Paul Codd's long range effort left Cork keeper Donal Cusack stranded between two forwards and the ball appeared to hit off Anthony O'Leary's shoulder into the net.

However they failed to build on that score, primarily because of the brilliance of Sherlock and Curran. Their cause wasn't helped when Paul Codd failed to connect with Larry Murphy's pass and only the goalkeeper to beat.

At the other end Damien Fitzhenry denied Timmy McCarthy a goal with another top class save. Cork remained well in control for the last quarter during which they hit over five unanswered points, two of them, by John Gardiner from frees inside his own half to ensure the Leesiders face into next Sunday's clash with Derry in Pairc Ui Chaoimh needing a win to be sure of a place in the knock-out stages.

Scorers for Cork: J Deane 0-6 (0-3 frees); J Gardiner 0-5 (0-4 frees); A Browne, T McCarthy 1-1 each; M O'Connell 0-1

Scorers for Wexford: M Jordan 0-4; A O'Leary 1-0; B Lambert (0-1 free, 0-1 '65); P Codd 0-2 each; M O'Leary, D Ruth(free) 0-1 each.

CORK: D Og Cusack, W Sherlock, P Mulcahy, B Murphy, S Og O hAilpin, R Curran, J Gardiner, D Barrett, M O'Connell, N McCarthy, T McCarthy, G O'Connor, E Fitzgerald, J Deane, A Browne.
Subs: S O hAilpin for O'Connor; B O'Connor for McCarthy; K Murphy for Fitzgerald.

WEXFORD: D Fitzhenry, M Travers, C Kehoe, D Guiney, D Stamp, D Ruth, K Rossiter, A Fenlon, M O'Leary, R McCarthy, MJ Furlong, M Jordan, R Jacob, A O'Leary, B Lambert.
Subs: P Codd for Furlong; L Murphy for McCarthy; L Dunne for Lambert; C McGrath for Jacob.

Referee: B Kelly (Westmeath).