Cabinteely (Away)

For anyone interested, it's planned to have audio commentary on tonight's match at the usual link.

www.mixlr.com/wexfordfc

Damian Locke will know that Wexford will need to improve on this performance in Stradbrook as they were comfortably second-best against a hungry Cabinteely. Wexford began with Ricky, Craig McCabe, Ross Kenny, Andy, Adam, Duxey, John McKeown, Craig Wall, Sean and with Craig Hayes up front. Cabinteely have some talent on the wings with Galvin on one side and Waters on the other wing, and it paid dividends right from the start as dangerous crosses came in from both wings by Cabinteely. The third cross, this time from the right, was touched in by Doyle of Cabinteely and Wexford were 1-0 down from very early on. On seven minutes, Cabinteely had a free which was cleared with difficulty by the Wexford defence. A minute later, Adam Hanlon of Wexford cut in from the right wing and crashed a left-footed shot which hit the underside of the crossbar and away. However, it was to be a long time before Kelly in the Cabinteely goal was to be tested again. Wexford then had a decent spell with their midfield coming more into the game, and on 25 minutes, Craig Hayes let a shot go from 30 yards out and it hit the outside of the post and wide. The pitch in Cabinteely is difficult and the ball tends to be in the air quite frequently as a result. Wexford struggled badly in the air at both ends of the pitch and it meant that chances were hard to come by. Just before the half-hour Wexford conceded another soft goal as the ball was given away in their own half. However, two defenders seemed to have chances to win the ball from Doyle, but both failed and Doyle's shot seemed to loop over his name-sake in the Wexford goal from close in for 2-0 to Cabinteely. An Andy O'Connor free which Kelly did well to hold in the Cabinteely goal then finished the half and Wexford looked in trouble at 2-0 down at half-time.

Second half was pretty poor fare as Wexford were unable to create anything and Cabinteely were happy to wind down the clock. One Cabinteely midfielder had a great effort from over 40 yards out which went very close and Graham Doyle had an easy catch from Waters who was running at him at an angle from the right. Wexford seemed to improve with the introduction of Thomas Croke, Liam Donnelly and Lee Duffy but it was only with five minutes to go when Wexford managed to force Cabinteely to knock the ball around their own box that Wexford threatened to score again following the early Hanlon effort in the first half. 2-0 to Cabinteely at full-time. Best for Wexford on a disappointing night, excluding the substitutes, were Sean Hurley who was able to win a few duels in the air (there might have been a case to put him in centre-forward rather than leave him isolated out on the left) and the always lively Ricky Fox but otherwise Wexford didn't really compete on the night. In addition to the two Cabinteely wingers, I thought Lafeta (?) had a smashing game for the home side. 2-0 to Cabinteely at the final whistle.