Two minutes after the start of the second half, an injured Peter Higgins was substituted for new signing John Peare to make his debut appearance, which was to be a dramatic opening for the promising midfielder. Rox, Andy Mulligan and Danny Furlong linked up well, but a clear chance did not fall for any of the three. Cabinteely responded ten minutes after the restart, with Pender once again picking up a long ball just in front of the Youths' back four. Pender wriggled through Stephen Last and Jimmy Dermody, to smash and grab their equalizer. Cabinteely 1 - 1 Wexford Youths
Cabinteely appeared to have the upper hand at this point, and things were to look even worse for the visitor's. Daniel Campbell slide in hard on Rox Keenan on the right wing, who was then stretchered off, to be replaced by David Doyle. From here on Wexford struggled to win anything in the air, but credit must go to David Doyle for a tenacious performance in the final 30 minutes. The Youths restarted slowly after the nasty looking injury to Rox, and Cabinteely capitalized. Ogontola picked up another loose ball, to rifle it past Doyle in a similar style to Pender. Cabinteely 2 - 1 Wexford.
Wexford struggled to win the ball in the air, and so changed to feed the ball up the left through Dermody and Mulligan, and on the right through Molloy and McCabe. Peare tried his best but struggled against a highly physical Cabinteely midfield, while Doyle was energetic and aggressive on the attack. The Youths' next chance was to come 15 minutes from the end, Danny making a run from deep but his was parried out for a corner. Andy Mulligan's corner was headed clear to David Doyle on the opposite wing, who sent a pacey shot back into the goal mouth, which was headed into the back of the net by Gary Delaney. Cabinteely 2 - 2 Wexford.
The pace of the game increased yet again, with a great chance for the winner coming ten minutes from the end. Eric blocked Cabinteely's play in his own half, and carried the ball all the way to the opposition box. He fed Danny who attempted to cross it back to Eric to what would have been a certain winner, but a Cabinteely leg got to it first for a Youths' corner. The resulting corner was headed just over by Gary Delaney yet again.
A number of Youths' chances followed with more good link up play between Eric, Andy and Danny, and it appeared to be just a matter of time before a winner was to come for Wexford. The late late winner came fittingly from the left, to cap off a terrific performance by Dermody and Mulligan. Mulligan's through ball fell to John Peare, who returned the ball to Andy Mulligan on the edge of the box, who in turn fed the ball through to Danny between the Cabinteely centre halves and directly in front of goal. Danny's easy finish gave Wexford the winning goal, launching them to the top of table. Cabinteely 2 - 3 Wexford Youths, and full time.
It was a scrappy game at times and demanded a lot of the Wexford players who would have benefitted greatly from Craig Wall and a fully fit Peter Higgins. They ran out deserved winners much to the relief of the 30 visiting supporters. Man of the Match would go to either Rox Keenan or Andy Mulligan, but it is difficult to pick out an individual performance above the rest. Special mention should certainly go to John Peare and particularly David Doyle for their gutsy performances in a tricky second half.
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