Allianz National Football League Division 4 - Round 5
Carlow 0-7
Wexford 1-14
“Nobody said it was easy.” - words taken from 'The Scientist' - an iconic Coldplay song.
The video to that song is also quite apt in relation to Carlow in this particular outing as it features things going backwards.
After the extreme high of last week's dramatic win over Leitrim, Carlow did indeed appear to move in the reverse direction here.
“I’m going back to the start,” vocalised Chris Martin in that famous song.
That’s now where Carlow appear to be and with it all to do mind you in order to achieve promotion.
Speaking of which, lets take you back to the start of this one.
Horrendous conditions at times at Netwatch Cullen Park, but the same for both sides with the home team looking menacing at certain points.
Indeed two goal chances of note were created inside 20 minutes. The first of those saw Darragh Foley lift his head on the half way line and spot the space in front of Ross Dunphy before expertly delivering. The effort at the target not fruitful however on this occasion.
10 minutes later it was Jamie Clarke who picked out Dunphy with a wonderful pass. Dunphy this time did get a point for his efforts which was his second of the game.
A super run from Mikey Bambrick deserved a score also but just fell away and his runs were one of the few highlights in this contest on the night.
Darragh Foley also kicked super frees from distance in the elements and two of these accounted for Carlow’s half time tally of 0-4 which somehow Wexford could only match.
The away side were to kick somewhere in the region of 15-17 wides in the contest (slight debate in the press box about this!) but regardless of the exact tally it’s enough to tell a story.
Carlow scored 0-7 over the 70 odd minutes, kicked 4 wides and dropped a handful short, but they were simply outfought and outplayed in the closing stages.
Losing Conor Crowley at half time to injury wasn’t ideal of course, but aside from this change we didn’t see the next one until 61 minutes when Eric Molloy and Cormac Lomax entered the fray.
The ground was heavy, energy was lacking and Wexford were starting to turn the screw on the scoreboard, although only ahead by 0-9 points to 0-7. It still seemed evident many minutes earlier that fresh legs were required.
Carlow’s three second half scores came in the first 13 minutes of the half and were all excellent via Foley and Conor Doyle from placed balls, with Dunphy kicking a beauty from play on 48 minutes.
But Wexford outscored them by 1-7 to no score during the remainder of the tie and Carlow couldn't conjure up anything meaningful in response.
Ben Brosnan has been a thorn in Carlow’s side on different occasions down through the years and the nail in the coffin came from him in the end when he finished neatly to the net late on.
Carlow couldn’t get any joy with high balls in around the house at all late on, in fact Wexford just owned the last 10 minutes of play entirely.
A word of mention for referee Alan Coyne of Dublin. We've called out decisions in recent weeks on this platform, but credit where it's due also and Coyne had a good game last night in the middle which is sure to have impressed assessor Brian Crowe who was on duty last night. Crowe himself having refereed on the biggest of occasions in the past.
An away trip to Longford is next up on Paddy’s weekend for Carlow and Longford's game with Leitrim today at Pearse Park will have a fair say on proceedings too.
“Nobody said it was easy.” - Indeed!
Carlow: Johnny Furey; Mikey Bambrick, Mark Furey, Paddy McDonnell; Aaron Amond, Josh Moore, Colm Hulton; Jordan Morrissey, Conor Doyle (0-1, 45); Ross Dunphy (0-3), Jamie Clarke, Shane Clarke; Conor Crowley, Darragh Foley (0-3f), Colin Byrne (plus one).
Subs: Niall Hickey, Cormac Lomax, Eric Molloy, John Murphy
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