TAILTEANN CUP PRELIMINARY QUARTER-FINAL
Wexford 5-23 Antrim 2-21

HOPES of long-awaited silverware for the Antrim footballers came crashing down on Sunday afternoon as the Saffrons were blown away by a strong Wexford side at Chadwick’s Wexford Park. 

The two counties met in the Tailteann Cup in last year’s group phase, which saw the Ulster County squeeze out the affair by a single point victory at the same venue. This time around Wexford were out for revenge as the home side blew away the Saffrons to book their spot in next weekend’s quarter final.

Last weekend saw second-half heroics from Antrim who left it late to avoid an embarrassing defeat at the hands of London. The Saffrons were rewarded with a preliminary quarter-final match-up against a Wexford side who finished second in Group Four after defeat at the hands of Fermanagh in the final group game.

Despite the scoreline it was the visitors who started the brighter as Lámh Dhearg midfielder Marc Jordan linked up well with St John’s young star Conor Hand who launched an effort between the posts from the far-left within the first minute, creating a false hope for the Antrim faithful.

Antrim held onto their lead without reply for a mere four minutes, before Wexford had notched a few scores on the board thanks to a free from goalkeeper Darragh Brooks and half-forward Martin O’Connor.

Rossa man Dominic McEnhill was on hand to reply with a lovely point from play leaving the scores at 0-2 apiece after eight minutes of play.

Wexford hit three points without reply, a two-pointer from the aforementioned Brooks and a Seán Nolan free put the Model County in control early in the contest.

Antrim did have their chances to keep within touching distance of their opponents. Forward Ruairi McCann was first to react after a lofted hand-pass caused a mix-up at the back, his punch fell to the feet of McEnhill who tried to place his effort into the roof of the net but for the great reactions of Brooks in the Wexford goal.

The Saffrons did keep Wexford on their toes with back-to-back points thanks to Ryan McQuillan and McEnhill after the latter worked well with full-back Eoghan McCabe to keep Antrim on the tails of the home-side as the score sat at 0-6-0-4 in Wexford’s favour.

It was at the 20 minute mark where the game really began to slip away from the Saffrons when Ben Brosnan struck a two-pointer from play.

Seán Nolan piled on the misery with a thumping effort into the Antrim net on the mid-way mark of the first period, followed by another point by the forward leaving Antrim with a deficit of eight with three-quarters of the game still to be played.

Rossa’s Michael Byrne became a Saffron centurion just before the half-time whistle. The Antrim goalkeeper scored his two-pointer from the edge of the scoring circle which saw his personal scoring tally for the county hit 101 points. A bright spot in an otherwise miserable day for Antrim in the wet south-east.

Antrim looked set to head into the break hoping for a 10-point swing in the second-half, but just before the whistle blew there was a final dagger into the hearts of Andy McEntee’s side.

A second goal for Wexford courtesy of Ben Brosnan saw Wexford extend an already healthy lead, putting them almost out of sight as the score-line read 2-14 – 0-7. A poor first-half gave Antrim a mountain to climb if they were to keep their football season and dreams of silverware alive. 

The second period started in the same manner as the first with three consecutive scores from Wexford in the opening minutes of play. Antrim once again relied upon some great skill from McEnill who drilled a lovely two-pointer from the far left-wing to give the visitors a slither of hope.

Unfortunately for Antrim the home-side decided to control the tempo of the game, opting for a more possession-based approach to stall any potential momentum for Antrim in the early stages of the second-half.

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Antrim did manage to score two points thanks to St Gall’s defender Eoghan McCabe and Con Magee’s forward Ryan McQuillan, with the former striking his effort between the posts after a fantastic solo run from deep. 

Although it looked beyond reach after a scrappy effort saw Wexford forward Seán Nolan's final touch add a third goal for Wexford before Mark Rossiter added a fourth shortly afterwards.

Antrim did manage to find the net themselves on the hour-mark thanks to Patrick Finnegan, but it was merely a consolation with less than 15 minutes remaining to turnaround an 18-point deficit.

The Saffrons did not give up without a fight, as McEnhill thumped an effort into the roof of the net before a Michael Byrne two-pointer and Conor Hand’s strike saw the momentum firmly with Antrim going into the closing stages. Byrne once again showed his unwavering ability to score from distance as he knocked another two-pointer, followed up by Eunan Quinn’s strike – four Antrim points in 30 seconds. 

Ryan McQuillan then scored on the 70th minute and with six additional minutes shown all eyes were on an Antrim comeback as their spirit was very much alive in the closing stages. 

Wexford’s lead simply proved too strong and in the 74th minute of play Robbie Brooks slotted home a fifth Wexford goal to break Antrim hearts and send Wexford to a Tailteann Cup quarter-final next weekend.

Wexford: D Brooks (0-6, 2tpf); M Furlong, G Sheehan, E Porter; M O’Connor (0-3, 1tp), G Malone (0-2), D Furlong; L Coleman, N Hughes, M Kinsella, P Hughes (0-3), M Rossiter (1-1); J Higgins (0-3), S Nolan (2-3, 0-1f), S Brosnan (1-2, 1tp).

Subs: K O’Grady for M O’Connor. (43), R Brooks (1-0) for S Brosnan (54), C Walsh for S Nolan (59), R Martin for M Rossiter (66), C Carty for M Kinsella (70+2).

Antrim: M Byrne (0-6, 3tpf); E McCabe (0-1), K Keenan, E Walsh; R Boyle, J Finnegan, D McAleese; C Hand (0-2), C Stewart; P McBride, A Loughran, M Jordan; R McQuillan (0-5, 2f), R McCann, D McEnhill (1-5, 1tp, 1’45).

Subs: N Burns for M Jordan (53), P Finnegan (1-0) for P McBride (53), E Quinn (0-2, 1tp) for C Stewart (56), J McAuley for E McCabe (62).