No points but a much more encouraging performance by Wexford against Cobh this evening compared to the defeats by Athlone and UCD where I thought the team looked a bit leggy and tired. Wexford started with Paul, James, Josh, Mikie, Darragh, Dobbsy, Kaylem, Zayd, Ryan K, Ryan B and Ryan S. However, one of the first names on the list for Wexford is probably the towering Dean Larkin and, as he sat this game out due to suspension, Wexford’s vulnerability in the air at the back became even more apparent than usual. It led to the first goal for Cobh on only four minutes when the away side won both the first and second headers following a long throw to give a goal to Barry Coffey and the away side a goal to the good. Cobh continued to dominate the early part of the game and a shot from distance by Cobh on eleven minutes smacked Wexford’s crossbar with Paul Martin beaten. Although both Mikie Rowe and Aaron Dobbs were working hard up front for Wexford, they were finding it difficult to make any impression on the Cobh defence or Timothy Martin in the Cobh goal. It got worse for Wexford on 28 minutes when Cobh were awarded a peno with what looked like a soft enough award, but Wexford probably drew a lot of short straws on the night as far as refereeing decisions were concerned. Barry Coffey put away the peno with ease and Cobh were two goals up. As the first half neared its end, Wexford showed that they could offer a decent threat with a great run by Ryan Kelly whose shot was cleared off the Cobh line and then Dobbsy had a turn and a shot which went a yard past the Cobh post. Two nil to Cobh at half-time.
Wexford needed to get a goal back early in the second half and had two decent chances through a volley by Wexford sub, Calum Flynn, which wasn’t kept on target and then a free header by Dobbsy which wasn’t on target either although the cross might have been slightly too high. Prior to those two Wexford chances, Cobh could have made the game safe when a low cross from the right was side-footed wide when it looked easier to score. On 25 minutes, the referee showed a straight red to Wexford’s Ryan Butler for a tackle right beside the touchline which wasn’t particularly forceful but did involve him showing his studs. Immediately after this, Calum Flynn had an effort a yard over the Cobh bar and Mikie Rowe forced Timothy Martin to make a really good save low to his right to keep Wexford scoreless. Wexford then went down to nine when Zayd Abada got a second yellow for an innocuous pull-back on a Cobh attacker. Since nobody near me had seen the first yellow, it was wondered whether Abada knew he was on a yellow. Wexford did well to keep Cobh scoreless for the remainder of the game and late Wexford subs were Mark Imiren and Tariq Almasry. 2-0 to Cobh at fulltime after a really creditable performance by the away side but Wexford need Dean Larkin back to shore up the defence particularly in the air. Other useful performances for the home side came from Paul Martin in goal, the three Ryans – Kelly, Butler and Scanlon – while Kaylem Harnett again proved to be the catalyst for much of the good work in the Wexford midfield. Crowd was one of the better ones in recent times in Ferrycarrig Park at 865.
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